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MEMOIR 


JAMES     PETIGRU    BOYCE. 


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MEMOIR 


OF 


JAMES  PETIGRU  BOYCE,  D.D.,  LLD, 

LATE    PRESIDENT    OF 

THE    SOUTHERN    BAPTIST    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 
LOUISVILLE,    KY. 


BY 

JOHN    A.    BROADUS 


A.    C.    ARMSTEONG    AND    SON 

LOUISVILLE,    KY. 

BAPTIST     BOOK     CONCERN 

Third  and  Jefferson  Sr. 

1893 


Copyright,  1893, 
By    John   A.    Bkoadus. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambkidge. 


U. 
^ 


/ 

4- 


TO 


MRS.   BOYCE    AND    HER    DAUGHTERS, 

WITH    MANY    PRECIOUS    MEMORIES    IN    COMMON, 
AND    HEARTY    PERSONAL    FRIENDSHIP. 


J.  A.  B. 


PREFACE. 


This  Memoir  has  been  prepared  by  request  of  the 
family,  and  through  strong  impulses  of  personal  affec- 
tion ;  for  we  were  of  the  same  age,  and  had  worked 
side  by  side  for  thirty  years.  But  in  depicting  a  char- 
acter so  elevated  and  sincere,  one  feels  obliged  to 
restrain  the  natural  tendency  to  eulogium. 

I  have  especially  tried  to  represent  the  environment 
and  development  of  Dr.  Boyce's  early  life  in  Charles- 
ton, at  Brown  University,  and  at  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary,  and  to  bring  out  his  labors  as  editor  in 
Charleston,  pastor  in  Columbia,  and  professor  in  Fur- 
man  University.  The  part  which  he  took  in  the  war, 
and  in  South  Carolina  politics,  is  not  overlooked. 

As  his  recognized  life-work  was  the  foundation  and 
establishment  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological 
Seminary,  a  biography  of  him  could  hardly  fail  to 
comprise  a  history  of  that  institution.  But  this  is  for 
the  most  part  thrown  into  distinct  chapters,  which 
some  readers  can  pass  over  if  they  like.  For  the  his- 
torical sketch  of  the  institution  I  have  carefully  used 
printed  and  manuscript  records,  besides  recollections 
which  go  back  almost  to  the  beginning  of  the  move- 
ment.    If  any  persons  interested  in  theological  educa- 


viii  PREFACE. 

tioii  wish  really  to  understand  the  peculiar  plan  and 
operations  of  this  Seminary,  they  will  find  a  brief 
chapter  of  explanation. 

The  account  of  Dr.  Boyce's  ancestry  and  early  life 
is  most  of  all  indebted  to  Dr.  H.  A.  Tupper,  who  was 
his  friend  from  boyhood  and  married  his  sister,  and 
who  has  written  copious  memoranda  and  furnished  a 
long  series  of  letters,  carefully  arranged,  from  which 
I  drew  many  facts  and  impressions,  besides  the 
extracts  given.  Valuable  assistance  was  also  afforded 
by  Dr.  Boyce's  sister,  Mrs.  Burckmyer,  and  by  William 
G.  Whilden,  Esq.,  Judge  B.  C.  Pressley,  and  numerous 
other  friends,  to  whom  indebtedness  will  be  found 
acknowledged  at  one  point  or  another.  The  Misses 
Boyce  have  carefully  selected  from  their  father's  let- 
ter-books all  such  as  they  thought  likely  to  be  helpful, 
and  have  written  notes  of  his  later  journeys  which 
they  shared,  and  also  personal  recollections  of  his 
home  life  and  traits  of  character,  which  are  freely 
used  in  the  closing  chapters.  I  heartily  thank  many 
former  students  and  others  who  have  furnished 
material  for  this  labor  of  love. 

J.  A.  B. 

Louisville,  Ky., 

A2:)nl  15,  1893. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH   AND   ANCESTRY. 

The  Scotch-Irish. —  The  'Boyce  Name  and  Family. —  The  Grandfather's 
Services  and  Adventures  during  the  Revolutionary  War. —  The 
Father,  Ker  Boyce,  settles  in  Charleston  as  a  Cotton-Factor.  — 
Weathering  a  Financial  Storm. — James  Boyce's  Mother. — Her 
Conversion,  during  a  Sermon  by  Basil  Manly,  Sr, 

Pages  1-9. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CITY  OF   CHARLESTON. 

Beautiful  Bay,  Islands,  and  Rivers. — The  Rich  Planters  of  "Sea 
Island  "  Cotton.  —  The  Carolina  Aristocracy.  —  Story  of  Dr.  Jeter. 
—  Population  of  Charleston  at  Different  Periods.    Pages  10-13. 


CHAPTER  ni. 

CHILDHOOD   AND    YOUTH. 

The  Namesake,  James  L.  Petigru.  —  The  "Little  Guarasman"  at 
Church.  —  Sketch  of  the  Pastor,  Basil  Manly,  Sr.  —James's  Early 
Fondness  for  Books. —  His  Archery  Club  and  Debating  Society.  — 
His  Mother's  Early  Death.  —  The  Lesson  she  once  gave  him  in 
Truthfulness.  —  His  Boyish  Care  of  the  Younger  Children,  and 
how  they  regarded  him.  —  Six  Months  in  a  Dry-Goods  Store.  — 


CONTENTS. 

Reading  the  Works  of  Gilmore  Simms.  —  At  Professor  Bailey's 
School,  and  at  the  High  School  with  Dr.  Brims.  —  Tinirod  and 
Hayne.  —  H.  H.  Tucker  his  Sunday-School  Teacher,  and  after- 
wards Judge  Piessley.  —  Hearing  Dr.  Thornwell.  —  At  the 
Charleston  College  under  Dr.  Brantly.  —  Tribute  of  his  Fellow- 
Student,  F.  T.  Miles.  —  Sketch  of  Dr.  Brantly,  the  Pastor  and 
President.  —  Business  and  Political  Activity  of  Mr.  Ker  Boyce. 

Pages  14-32. 


CHAPTER   ly. 

AT   BROWN   UNIVERSITY. 

Early  Interest  of  South  Carolina  Baptists  in  Brown  University, —  Sketch 
of  President  Wayland,  whom  James  Boyce  resembled  in  Impor- 
tant Respects.  —  Dr.  AVayland's  Controversy  with  Dr.  R.  Fuller  on 
Slavery.  —  Professors  Caswell,  Gammell,  Lincoln,  and  J.  R.  Boise. 
—  Various  Fellow-Students  who  became  famous. —  Visit  of  Adoni- 
ram  Judson.  —  Letters  of  Boyce  to  H.  A.  Tupper.  —  Tributes  to 
him  by  J.  R.  Boise  and  J.  H.  Luther.  —  His  Conversion,  through 
the  Influence  of  Fellow-Students  at  Brown,  and  the  Preaching  of 
Dr.  R.  Fuller  in  Charleston.  —  His  Zeal  on  returning  to  College, 
and  Important  Revival  there. —  His  Studies.  —  Lively  Letter  to  a 
Charleston  Lady.  —  Continued  Religious  Labors.  —  Letters.  — 
Determination  to  become  a  Minister.  —  Disappointment  of  his 
Father  and  some  others.  —  Graduated  and  licensed  to  preach. 

Pages  33-54. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MARRIAGE   AND  EDITORIAL  WORK. 

How  he  became  acquainted  at  "Washington,  Ga.  —  The  Ficklen  Family. 
—  The  Village,  its  Schools  and  Society.  —  Quickly  enamoured,  and 
long  persevering.  —  How  prevented  from  studying  Theology  at 
Hamilton.  —  Marriage.  —  Editor  of  "The  Southern  Baptist"  in 
Charleston.  —  Characteristics  and  Success  in  that  Capacity.  — 
Much  in  Company  with  Dr.  A.  M.  Poindexter. 

Pages  55-ti6. 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER   VI. 


AT   PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY,   1849-1851. 

Archibald  Alexander  and  his  Famous  Sons,  James  and  Addison.  —  Dr. 
Charles  Hodge.  —  Fellow-Students,  Presbyterian  and  Baptist.  — 
Very  laborious,  his  Wife  aiding  by  copying  Notes. —  Preaching  often 
at  the  Penn's  Neck  Baptist  Church,  near  Princeton. —  The  Karlie-st 
Sermon  that  remains. —  A  Vacation  with  the  Ficklens  in  Virginia, 
preaching  every  Sunday.  —  Letters  to  Mr.  Tupper,  now  his  Brother- 
in-law.  —  Plans  on  leaving  Princeton     .      .     .     Pages  67-8'6. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PASTOR   AT   COLUMBIA,    S.  C,    1851-1855. 

The  City,  its  Surroundings  and  Beautiful  Homes.  —  Capitol,  South 
Carolina  College,  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary. —  The  Baptist 
Church  in  Columbia,  and  his  Ministerial  Labors.  —  Getting  a 
Strong  Hold  upon  the  Colored  People.  —  Setting  up  a  Home.  —  His 
Father's  Death  there.  —  Closing  Estimates  of  Mr.  Ker  Boyce.  — 
The  Young  Minister  left  as  Active  Executor.  —  At  the  Southern 
Baptist  Convention  in  1855 Pages  84-99. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

PROFESSOR   OF   THEOLOGY   IN   FURMAN   UNIVERSITY. 

History  of  the  Furman  Institution  from  1827,  and  its  Eemoval  to  Green- 
ville in  1851,  as  Furman  University.  —  Boyce  elected  to  its 
Theological  Department  in  1855.  —  Sketches  of  President  Furman 
and  Professors  Judson,  Edwards,  and  others.  —  Boyce's  Anxiety  to 
have  another  Theological  Professor.  —  His  Faithful  Labors.  — 
Sermon  on  the  Death  of  Senator  A.  P.  Butler  .  Pages  100-110. 


Xli  CO^'TENTS. 


CHAPTER  IX, 

FOUNDATION   OF   THE   SOUTHERN   BAPTIST    THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY. 

Almost  every  Baptist  College  began  with  a  Theological  Department.  — 
Young  Basil  Manly  and  others  going  to  Newton,  in  Massachusetts. 

—  SejAration  of  Northern  and  Southern  Baptists,  in  1845.  —  Idea 
of  a  Common  Theological  School  for  all  Southern  Baptists.— Various 
Consultations,  at  Augusta  1845,  Nashville  and  Charleston  1849,  in 
Virginia  1854  ;  in  Educational  Conventions,  at  Montgomery  1855, 
Augusta  1856. —  James  P.  Boyce's  Address  in  1856  at  Furman 
University  on  "Three  Changes  in  Theological  Institutions."  — 
Copious  Extracts  from  this  Epoch-Making  Address. —  His  Views 
compared  with  those  of  President  "Wayland,  Three  Years  before, 
in  "  The  Apostolic  Ministry." — Proposition  of  the  South  Carolina 
Baptists  accepted  by  an  Educational  Convention  in  Louisville,  1857. 

—  Professor  Boyce  at  work  as  Agent  in  South  Carolina.  —  Final 
Convention  at  Greenville,  1858,  organizing  the  Seminary.  — 
Opening  delayed  a  Year Pages  111-154. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   seminary's   PLAN   OF   INSTRUCTION. 

Its  Aim  to  give  Tlieological  Instruction  to  ]\Ien  in  every  Grade  of 
General  Education.  —  How  could  these  work  together  ?  —  System  of 
Independent  "Schools,"  like  the  University  of  Virginia.  —  Every 
]\Ian's  Studies  completely  elective. —  List  of  the  Seminary's  Schools, 
or  Departments. —  Great  Stress  laid  upon  the  Study  of  the  English 
Scriptures. —  Remarkable  Experiences  in  that  Direction. —  How  the 
Plan  has  worked,  with  even  Unexpected  Good  Results.  —  Peculiar- 
ities as  to  Graduation.  —  New  Degrees  recently  introduced,  and 
New  Titles.  —  Wide  Range  of  Special  Studies. 

Pages  155-165. 


CONTENTS.        ■  xiii 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE    seminary's   THREE   FIRST   SESSIONS,  1859-1862. 

The  Town  of  Greenville  and  its  Environs.  —  The  Four  Professors.  — 
Some  of  the  First  Students.  —  Opening  full  of  Encouragement.  — 
Dr.  Boyce's  Country  Pastorate.  —  His  Kindness  to  the  Students. 
—  Dedicating  the  New  Church  at  Columbia. —  Second  Session  dis- 
turbed by  the  Great  Political  Excitement.  —  Visiting  Fort  Sumter 
after  its  Capture  by  South  Carolina  Troops. —  Thii-d  Session  greatly 
hindered  by  the  War. —  Dr.  Boyce's  Correct  Forecast  as  to  Duration 
of  the  War. —  His  Diligence  in  Study  amid  so  many  Interruptions. 

Pages  166-182. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

DR.  boyce's   part   IN   THE   WAR. 

Opposed  to  Secession,  but  went  with  his  State.  —  Fearing  a  Long  and 
Bloody  War. —  Prospect  of  Heavy  Financial  Losses.  —  Chaplain  in 
Confederate  Army. —  Member  of  the  South  Carolina  Legislature. — 
Important  Bill  and  Speech  as  to  helping  the  Confederate  Finances. 
—  Extracts  from  the  Speech.  —  Aide-de-Camp  to  the  Governor.  — 
His  House  at  Greenville  plundered  by  Union  Soldiers, 

Pages  183-197. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

FIRST    SIX   years   AT    GREENVILLE   AFTER   THE   WAR, 

1865-1871. 

The  Seminary  reopened,  with  very  Few  Students,  and  Ruined  Finances.-- 
Working  for  the  Future. —  Dr.  Boyce's  Personal  Losses  and  Embar- 
rassments, and  Great  Exertions  to  collect  Support  for  the  Seminary. 

—  Salaries  once  a  Whole  Year  in  Arrears,  amid  the  High  Prices, 

—  Southern  Interest  in  Higher  Education,  and  Real  Generosity  of 
many.—  Boyce  refusing  Offers  of  Large  Salary.  —  Number  of  Stu- 


XIV  •      CONTENTS. 

dents  slowly  increasing. —  Finances  improving,  and  (1869)  a  Fifth 
Professor  appointed,  C.  H,  Toy.  —  Dr.  Boyce's  Sermon  at  the 
Funeral  of  Dr.  Basil  Manly,  Sr.  —  Extracts.  —  Professor  B.  Manly, 
Jr.,  goes  to  be  President  of  Georgetown  College,  Ky. 

Pages  198-217. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SERIES   OF   EFFORTS   TO    REMOVE   THE   SEMINARY. 

What  had  become  of  the  Original  Subscribed  Endowment.  —  Necessity 
for  Removal  slowly  recognized.  —  Various  Suggestions  and  Proposi- 
tions, from  1869  onward. —  Offer  to  make  Boyce  President  of  Brown 
University.  — Decision  in  1872  to  remove  the  Seminary  to  Louis- 
ville. —  Professor  W.  H.  Whitsitt  elected  in  1872. —Dr.  Boyce 
yields  the  Chair  of  Systematic  Theology  to  Dr.  Williams. —  Elected 
President  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention,  1872-1879.  — 
Removes  his  Family  to  Louisville,  1872. — Letters  to  J.  0.  R. 
Dargan  and  Mrs.  Butler.  —  Grave  Difficulties  encountered  at 
Louisville,  and  Opposition  of  some  Excellent  Men. —  Financial 
Collapse  of  1873. —  Boyce's  Great  Speech  before  a  Meeting  in  Louis- 
ville, and  another  before  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in  1873. 
—  Remarkable  Contributions  in  Texas,  and  at  the  Baptist  Anniver- 
saries in  AVashington  City.  —  Tour  of  Kentucky.  —  Long  Series  of 
Efforts  to  secure  Endowment  in  Kentucky  and  elsewhere. —  Preach- 
ing much  in  Louisville.  —  Work  of  the  Seminary  at  Greenville.  — 
Failing  Health  of  Dr.  Williams,  and  his  Death.  —  Sketch,  and 
Tribute  by  Dr.  Curry.  —  Removal  of  the  Seminary  to  Louisville  in 
1877 Pages  218-250. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

TEN  BUSY  YEARS   IN   THE    SEMINARY   AT   LOUISVILLE, 

1877-1887. 

Extracts  from  Dr.  Boyce's  Opening  Lecture  on  History  of  the  Seminary. 
—  Professors  cordially  received  in  Louisville.  —  Dr.  Boyce  again 
teaching  Theology.  —  Number  of  Students  nmch  increased.  — 
Resignation  of  Dr.  Toy  (1879),  and  Return  of  Dr.  Manly.  — Dr. 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Boyce's  Work  as  a  Teacher.  —  His  Method  of  Instruction  in  The- 
ology.—  His  Jjove  of  Turrettin,  and  Chiss  in  *'  Latin  Theology." — 
His  Teaching  in  Church  Government,  Pastoral  Duties,  and  Parlia- 
mentary Practice.  —  His  New  Studies  in  Various  Directions.  — 
Seminary's  Financial  Condition  unsatisfactory,  and  Boyce's  Labors 
and  Journeys. —  The  Institution  saved  by  a  Single  Gift,  in  Answer 
to  Prayer,  with  Further  Gi^ts  in  Louisville  and  New  York.  —  More 
Students.  —  Assistant-Professor  G.  W.  Riggan.  —  Need  of  Ground 
and  Buildings.  —  New  York  Hall. —  Death  of  Riggan. —  Assistant- 
Professors  J.  R.  Sampey  and  A.  T.  Robertson.  —  Letters  of  Boyce 
to  his  Sister  and  others,  to  M.  T.  Yates  and  other  Missionaries. 

Pages  251-303. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

PUBLISHED   AND   UNPUBLISHED   WRITINGS. 

Brief  Catechism  of  Bible  Doctrine.  —  Abstract  of  Theology.  —  History 
of  its  Production.  —  Adapted  to  his  Method  of  Class  Instruction, 
but  very  useful  also  to  Working  Preachers.  —  Highly  Favorable 
Notices  in  the  "  Standard "  and  the  "Independent."  —  Mention 
of  Various  Sermons,  Lectures,  and  Essays,  which  ought  to  be 
published Pages  304-313. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DECLINING  YEARS  AND  DEATH. 

Occasional  Attacks  since  1871.  —  Overwork.  —  Co-Professor  F.  H. 
Kerfoot  in  1887.  —  Various  Letters,  one  to  William  E.  Dodge,  of 
New  York.  — Journey  with  Family  to  California  and  Alaska.  — 
Notes  of  Miss  Boyce.  —  Assault  on  Dr.  Manly,  impairing  his 
Health. — Dr.  Boyce  once  more  presiding  in  Southern  Baptist 
Convention,  1888.  —  Voyage  with  Family  to  Europe.  —  Letters.  — 
Miss  Boyce's  Notes  of  their  Travels  in  England  and  Scotland.  — 
Very  ill  in  London.  —  Death  of  two  Sisters.  —  Letters.  — Sojourn 
in  Paris,  with  Failing  Strength.  —  Death  at  Pau,  in  the  South  of 
France,  Dec.  28,  1888.  —  Funeral  from  Broadway  Church,  Louis- 
ville. —  Memorial  Meetings Pages  314-344. 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

GENERAL   ESTIMATES    OF    CHARACTER. 

Various  Qualities  stated,  with  Numerous  Extracts  from  Memorial  and 
Funeral  Addresses,  from  Letters  of  Students  and  other  Friends,  and 
from  Miss  Boyce's  Notes Pages  345-371 


MEMOIR 


JAMES     PETIGRU     BOYCE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH   AND    ANCESTRY. 

JAMES  PETIGRU  BOYCE  was  born  in  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  January  11,  1827.  His  father,  Ker 
Boyce,  had  removed  ten  years  before  from  Kewberry  Dis- 
trict.^ This  large  district,  or  county,  lies  in  the  fine 
central  region  of  South  Carolina,  which  is  rolling  and 
healthful,  and  near  enough  to  navigable  streams  to  have 
been  earlier  developed  than  the  upper  portions  of  the  State, 
towards  the  Blue  Ridge.  An  enthusiastic  old  citizen  is 
reported  to  have  said:  '^  South  Carolina  is  the  garden  spot 
of  the  world,  and  Newberry  District  is  the  garden  spot  of 
South  Carolina.'' 

While  the  early  settlers  of  South  Carolina  were  chiefly 
English,  there  were  two  other  considerable  elements, 
which  have  always  been  highly  influential  in  the  business, 
politics,  and  society  of  the  State,  —  the  Huguenots  and 
the  Scotch-Irish.      These  last  are  a  people  who  have  made 

1  The  terra  "district"  was  always  used  in  South  Carolina  until  the 
Reconstruction  legislation  of  1866  changed  it  to  "county."  The  dis- 
tricts near  the  coast  were  subdivided  into  parishes,  some  of  which  had 
separate  representation  in  the  State  Legislature. 

1 


3  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES   P.   BOYCE. 

themselves  felt  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  They  went  from 
Scotland  centuries  ago  to  the  adjacent  portions  of  Ireland, 
and  have  continued  to  occupy  all  the  northeastern  part  of 
that  island,  having  Belfast  and  Londonderry  as  their  chief 
cities,  and  keeping  themselv^es  mainl}'  distinct  from  the 
properly  Irish  population.  They  followed  the  example 
of  their  kinsmen  in  Scotland  in  becoming  Protestant  and 
Presbyterian,  and  they  now  constitute  an  important  factor 
in  the  possibilities  and  the  difficulties  of  Home  Rule  in 
Ireland. 

The  father  of  Ker  Bo3^ce  was  John  Boj'ce,  who  was 
born  in  Ireland.  The  family  name  is  still  common  in 
northeastern  Ireland  and  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States.-^     John  Boyce  removed  to  the  British  colonies  of 

1  Prof.  James  R.  Boise,  formerly  of  Brown  University,  and  now 
Emeritus  Professor  in  the  Divinity  School  of  Chicago  University,  in  a 
letter  of  February,  1889  (after  James  P.  Boyce's  death),  from  whi(;li 
we  shall  hereafter  quote  further,  says,  "I  had  correspondence  with  him 
a  few  years  ago  respecting  the  various  forms  of  our  name  ;  and  the  result 
may  be  interesting  to  some  of  his  relatives  and  numerous  friends.  By 
the  aid  of  encyclopaedias  and  biographical  dictionaries  we  arrived  at 
the  following  list,  showing  that  the  name  is  found  in  Greek,  Latin, 
German,  Italian,  French,  and  English  ;  and  it  is  (juite  likely  that  other 
forms  might  be  found  :  Bo-ndSs,  Borjd6o5,  Boethius.  Boetius,  Boethe, 
Boecius,  Boece,  Boecio,  Boezio,  Bois,  Boice,  Boyce,  Boyse,  Boise,  Boies, 
Boyes,  Boys,  Boyis,  Boiss,  Boeis."  There  is  some  reason  to  believe 
that  all  were  primarily  of  Huguenot  origin,  their  ancestors  having 
emigrated,  when  banished  from  France,  to  the  north  of  Ireland,  where 
they  found  Protestant  sympathy.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention 
that  about  1786  Gilbert  Boyce  is  spoken  of  as  an  English  Baptist 
minister,  and  that  a  collection  of  hynms  published  in  England  in  1801 
contained  twenty-one  hymns  by  Samuel  Boyse  (Diet.  Hymn.,  p.  167). 
Dr.  Eubert  Boyce,  author  of  an  important  medical  work,  is  now  a 
medical  professor  in  University  College,  London.  We  learn  further, 
through  the  researches  of  Samuel  Wilson,  of  Richmond,  that  persons 
named  Boyce  were  early  prominent  in  Virginia.  Chyna  (Cheney)  Boyse 
came  over  in  1617,  and  was  of  the  Assembly  of  Burgesses  in  1629; 
John  Boys  was  of  that  body  in  1619,  both  representing  Charles  City 
county.    Several  others  appear  among  the  immigrants  of  that  century. 


BIRTH   AND   ANCESTRY.  3 

North  America  in  1765.  In  1777  he  married  Elizabeth 
Miller,  daughter  of  David  Miller,  of  Eutherford,  North 
Carolina,  and  shortly  after  settled  in  Newberry  District, 
about  fifteen  miles  north  of  the  town  of  Newberry,  in  a 
section  which  has  for  many  years  been  called  Mollohon. 
He  thus  began  his  married  life  in  the  midst  of  the  Eevo- 
lution.  The  battle  of  Fort  Moultrie  had  been  fought 
in  June,  1776.  On  the  15th  of  January,  1778,  the  city 
of  Charleston  was  set  on  fire,  — according  to  the  popular 
supposition  by  '^ partisans  of  the  British,"  —  and  lost  two 
hundred  and  thirty-two  houses,  valued  at  half  a  million  of 
pounds  sterling.  In  the  spring  of  this  year  the  Schophel- 
ites,  followers  of  Colonel  Schophel,  a  militia  colonel  whom 
Moultrie  called  "  slu  illiterate,  stupid,  noisy  blockhead," 
organized  in  South  Carolina  and  moved  across  the  Savan- 
nah River  to  form  a  junction  with  the  British  troops  in 
St.  Augustine,  Florida.  It  was  expected  that  these  troops 
would  invade  South  Carolina,  and  the  military  prowess  of 
the  Carolinians  was  greatly  aroused.  Alexander  Boyce,  a 
brother  of  John  not  otherwise  known  to  us,^  obtained  a 
commission  as  captain;  and  as  a  jjrivate  in  his  brother's 
company,  John  had  his  first  military  experience.  At  the 
siege  of  Savannah,  Captain  Alexander  Boyce,  on  the  9th 
of  November,  1779,  in  a  gallant  attempt  to  carry  the 
British  line,  fell  at  the  head  of  his  company.  John  Boyce 
afterwards  joined  a  company  commanded  by  Captain  (sub- 
sequently Colonel)  Dugan,  and  was  in  the  battles  of  Black- 
stocks,  King's  Mountain,  Cowpens,  and  Eutaw.  After  one 
of  these  battles  he  returned  home  for  a  brief  visit,  but 
had  scarcely  seated  himself  to  eat  when  he  was  startled 

1  Nor  do  we  know  what  kin  to  John  and  Alexander  was  James 
Boyce,  who  also  came  from  Ireland  to  North  Carolina  before  the  Revo- 
lution,  settling  near  Charlotte.  He  was  an  eminentl}^  religious  man, 
and  highly  respected.  His  grandson  is  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine  Boyce, 
D.D.,  of  Gastonia,  N.  C,  and  the  latter's  son  is  Rev.  James  Boyce,  of 
Louisville,  Ky.,  minister  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church. 


4  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES   V.   BOYCE. 

b}^  tlie  approach  of  horses.  Springing  to  the  door,  he 
found  himself  confronted  by  a  party  of  Tories,  headed 
by  the  celebrated  partisan  William  Cunningham,  and  an- 
other man  equally  dreaded,  named  McCombs.  Hurling 
his  hat  into  the  faces  of  the  horses,  which  made  them 
open  right  and  left,  he  rushed  through  the  opening  to- 
wards the  woods,  not  reaching  them  till  he  had  lost  three 
fingers  from  his  uplifted  arm,  by  a  furious  blow  of  Cun- 
ningham's sabre.  When  the  Tories  withdrew^,  he  hurried 
to  the  house,  that  his  hand  might  be  bound  up;  then  joined 
his  company,  and  before  night  was  in  pursuit  of  the  mur- 
derous marauders.  On  the  Enoree  River,  near  the  mouth 
of  Duncan's  Creek,  they  captured  eleven  or  twelve  of  the 
party,  and  among  them  McCombs.  ''These  were  con- 
veyed to  the  place  where  the  Charleston  road  crosses  the 
old  Ninety-Six  road  (now  Whitmire's),  and  there  a  'short 
shrift,'  a  strong  rope  and  a  stooping  hickory,  applied 
speedy  justice  to  them  all.  A  common  grave,  at  the  root 
of  the  tree,  is  their  resting-place  for  all  time. 

"On  another  occasion  Mr.  John  Boyce  w^as  captured, 
and  tied  in  his  own  barn,  while  a  bed-cord  was  sought  for 
to  hang  him  5  his  negro  man  (long  afterwards  known  as 
Old  Sandy),  being  hid  in  the  straw,  while  the  captors  were 
absent  on  their  fell  purpose  arose  to  the  rescue,  untied 
his  master,  and  both  made  good  their  escape.  .  .  .  These 
are  a  few  of  the  hairbreadth  escapes  which  tried  the  men 
of  that  dark  and  bloody  period,  when  home,  sweet  home, 
could  not  be  enjoyed  for  a  moment  without  danger,  and 
when  wife  and  children  had  to  be  left  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  bloody,  thundering  Tories."  The  late  John  Bel- 
ton  O'Xeall,  Chief-Justice  of  South  Carolina,  from  whose 
''Annals  of  Newberry  "  the  above  details  are  taken,  adds: 
"John  Boyce  lived  long  after  the  war,  enjoying  the  rich 
blessings  of  the  glorious  liberty  for  which  he  had  perilled 
so  much.  He  lost  his  wife  in  1797,  and  died  in  1806, 
leaving  seven  sons  and  a  daughter,  Robert,  John,  David, 


BIRTH   AND  ANCESTRY.  5 

Alexander,  Ker,  James,  Andrew,  and  Mary.''  It  will  be 
noticed  that  several  of  these  sons  bore  familiar  Scottish 
names.  It  is. a  family  tradition  that  he  and  all  the  seven 
sons  were  noted  for  their  wit,  and  fond  of  practical  jokes; 
and  many  anecdotes  are  preserved  which  show  how  the  old 
gentleman,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  and  eighty,  still  en- 
joyed getting  the  best  of  ''the  boys."  We  shall  find  this 
characteristic  fully  inherited  by  Ker  Boyce  and  by  his  son 
James. 

Judge  O'Neall  says  that  John  Bo3^ce  was  ''a  well-in- 
formed, though  not  a  well-educated,  man,  who  had  read 
much,  and  exercised  a  just  and  wholesome  influence  in  the 
section  where  he  lived.  He  was  a  Presbyterian  and  an 
elder  in  McClintock's  church.  Gilder's  Creek,  and  his  re- 
mains rest  in  the  graveyard  of  that  church."  His  sons 
all  led  industrious  and  prosperous  lives,  making  them- 
selves favorably  known  in  Newberry,  Laurens,  Union,  and 
elsewhere,  and  no  doubt  permanently  influenced  by  the 
''Let  us  worship  God,"  heard  night  and  morning  in  the 
home  of  their  youth.  A  son  of  Robert  was  Hon.  William 
W.  Boyce,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  United  States 
Congress  and  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  and  a  prominent 
lawyer,  who  spent  his  last  years  in  Washington  city  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  died  in  1889. 

Beyond  the  general  good  influence  of  the  home  and  the 
church,  we  know  nothing  as  to  the  early  life  of  Ker  Boyce, 
born  April  8,  1787,  save  that  he  was  mirthful  and  mis- 
chievous, so  that  some  imagined  he  would  not  succeed 
well  in  business,  but  found  themselves  very  much  mis- 
taken. His  educational  advantages  were  limited,  but 
he  showed  a  quick  and  bright  intelligence.  After  some 
experience  as  clerk  in  a  store,  he  established  himself  as  a 
merchant  in  the  town  of  Newberry,  and  steadily  prospered. 
In  1812  the  Legislature  elected  him  to  be  tax-collector 
for  Newberry  District  over  several  opponents,  and  it  is 
related  that  he  showed  much  electioneering  skill  in  deal- 


o  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES   P.  BOYCE. 

ing  with  the  members,  aided  by  his  contagious  good  humor 
and  wit.  In  the  year  1813,  when  the  second  war  with 
Great  Britain  interrupted  communication  by  sea  with 
the  Northern  States,  Mr.  Boyce  began  to  trade  overland 
with  Philadelphia.  Cotton  was  hauled  from  Newberry  to 
Philadelphia  in  wagons,  which  then  brought  back  goods 
purchased  there  by  the  young  merchant,  who  made  the 
journey  on  horseback.  In  1815  he  and  a  friend  went  on 
horseback  to  Amelia  Island  (off  the  Forida  coast,  near 
Pernandina),  purchasing  a  stock  of  goods  which  was  there 
for  sale,  and  transporting  it  to  Newberry  by  wagons. 

In  1815  Ker  Boyce  was  married  to  Miss  Nancy  Johns- 
ton, of  Newberry.  She  and  also  his  second  wife  (the 
mother  of  James  P.  Boyce)  w^ere  sisters  of  Job  Johnston, 
who  was  distinguished  as  a  chancellor.  The  following 
account  of  their  father  was  copied  from  a  Family  Bible  by 
Hon.  Silas  Johnston,  of  Newberry:  ''John  Johnstowm 
[note  the  spelling]  was  born  in  the  county  of  London- 
derry, Ireland,  and  married  Mary  Caldwell,  daughter  of 
Job  Caldwell,  in  the  same  county,  July  2,  1785.  The 
father  of  John  was  David  Johnstown,  whose  w^ife  was  Mary 
Boyd,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Boyd,  who  served 
on  the  side  of  King  William  at  the  siege  of  Londonderry, 
in  the  year  1689.  (  Vide  Smollett's  History  of  England.)  " 
So  w^e  see  that  the  mother  also  of  James  P.  Bo3^ce  was  of 
a  Scotch-Irish  family,  and  they  too  were  Presbyterians. 
Nancy  Johnston  was  born  in  Fairfield,  S.  C,  Oct.  9,  1795, 
and  married  July  11,  1812.  Judge  O'Neall  remarks, 
*'No    more  lovely  woman   ever  blessed  a  husband." 

In  1817,  two  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  with  Eng- 
land, it  became  manifest  that  there  were  great  possibilities 
for  the  cotton  trade  from  Charleston  to  the  Northern  cities 
and  to  Europe.  Our  far-seeing  and  enterprising  young 
merchant  became  dissatisfied  with  Newberry,  as  too  narrow 
a  field,  and  too  far  from  the  sea.  So  he  and  his  brother-in- 
law,  Samuel  Johnston,  formed  a  co-partnership,  and  com- 


BIRTH   AND   ANCESTRY.  7 

menced  business  as  merchants  in  King  Street,  Charleston. 
Subsequently  they  transferred  their  business  to  ''The 
Bay,"  and  became  factors  and  commission-merchants.  The 
term  ''factor,"  according  to  its  original  use,  might  suggest 
that  such  men  were  only  the  agents  of  the  cotton-planters, 
to  sell  their  cotton  and  buy  their  plantation  supplies.  But 
the  leading  cotton  factors  soon  began  to  advance  money  on 
the  cotton,  and  themselves  furnish  the  supplies.  They 
would  often  provide  these  for  the  current  year,  taking  the 
planter's  obligation  to  pay  with  interest  when  the  cotton 
should  be  sold,  or  taking  a  lien  on  the  crop,  which  was 
sometimes  specially  authorized  by  law.  Thus  the  cotton 
factors  frequently  became  operators  on  an  extensive  scale, 
and  men  of  great  business  talents  had  opportunity^  for 
large  acquisitions  of  wealth.  Judge  O'^eall  tells  us  that 
Mr.  Samuel  Johnston  "was  the  most  perfect  man  of  busi- 
ness" he  ever  knew.  He  credits  both  the  young  part- 
ners with  "an  excellent  judgment,"  and  ascribes  to  Mr. 
Boyce  "tireless  energy  and  activity."  So  the  firm  made 
large  profits,  and  rose  rapidly  to  financial  power.  But  Mr. 
Johnston's  health  gave  way,  and  he  died  of  consumption 
in  1822.  A  Mr.  Henry  had  been  associated  with  them, 
and  the  firm  was  for  some  years  Boyce  and  Henry,  and 
then  Boyce,  Henry,  and  Walter. 

"In  1823  Mr.  Boyce  sustained  the  first  great  misfor- 
tune of  his  life,"  in  the  death  of  his  admirable  wife,  who 
lies  buried  in  the  cemetery  at  Newberry.  She  left  three 
children,  — John  Johnston,  Samuel  J.,  and  Mary  C,  who 
became  Mrs.  William  Lane. 

In  1825  occurred  one  of  the  great  periodical  revulsions 
in  trade  and  finance.  At  such  times  cotton  factors  are 
exposed  to  peculiar  danger,  when  from  the  beginning  of 
the  year  they  have  made  large  advances  in  supplies  to 
planters,  expecting  to  borrow  money  as  needed,  and  replace 
it  all  when  the  cotton  should  be  sold  the  next  winter. 
When    the  banks  shut  down,   and   private  loans  become 


8  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

impossible,  the  cottou  factor  of  large  connections  is  apt  to 
go  under.  Mr.  Boyce's  iirm  is  said  by  our  authority  to  have 
accumulated  by  this  time  fifty  thousand  dollars.  He  put 
the  whole  of  it  in  requisition  to  save  his  business,  but  this 
would  b}"  no  means  have  sufficed.  Mr.  Blackwood,  presi- 
dent of  the  Planters'  and  Mechanics'  Bank,  had  closely 
observed  Mr.  Boyce's  business  talents  and  character,  and 
told  him  that  the  bank  would  furnish  him  funds  to  any 
needed  extent.  In  all  pursuits  and  relations,  personal 
character  tells.  We  learn  (from  an  obituary)  that  at  this 
time  Mr.  Boyce  also  upheld  various  other  men,  in  whom 
with  his  remarkable  insight  he  put  just  confidence,  and 
enabled  them  to  tide  over  the  time  of  danger. 

In  the  latter  part  of  this  year,  Oct.  25,  1825,  Ker  Boyce 
formed  a  second  marriage,  with  his  previous  wife's  younger 
sister,  Amanda  Jane  Caroline  Johnston,  born  Dec.  3, 
1806.  Her  children  were  five;  namely,  James,  Nancy 
(Mrs.  H.  A.  Tupper),  Eebecca  (Mrs.  Burckmyer),  Ker 
(or  Kerr),  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Lawrence).  This  young  wife, 
the  mother  of  James,  is  described  as  singularly  attractive 
and  admirable.  Thus  Dr.  H.  A.  Tupper  says:  ''A  more 
gentle  and  lovelier  Christian  woman  never  lived.  Her 
person  had  the  frail  beauty  of  the  lily;  her  character,  the 
rich  fragrance  of  the  rose.  The  writer,  as  a  little  boy, 
knew  her  well  and  admired  her  greatly.  Tristram  Shandy 
saj^s  a  man's  history  begins  before  his  birth.  The  almost 
womanly  gentleness  and  amiability  of  James  P.  Boyce 
may  be  clearlj^  traced  to  his  mother,  —  just  as  his  hard 
common-sense,  great  executive  ability,  and  deep  vein  of 
Jiumor  may  be  with  equal  readiness  traced  to  his  father 
and  his  paternal  grandfather." 

It  cannot  be  ascertained  under  what  precise  circum- 
stances Mr.  Boyce  and  his  wife,  though  both  reared  in 
Presbyterian  families,  began  to  attend  the  ministry  of  the 
young  Baptist  pastor,  Basil  Manly  (see  below  in  chapter 
iii.).     In  November,  1830,  the  pastor  felt  bound,  for  some 


BIRTH  AND   ANCESTRY.  9 

highly  important  reason,  to  attend  the  Baptist  State  Con- 
vention, tliough  one  of  his  children  was  very  ill.  He  and 
his  wife  prayed  for  direction,  and  decided  that  he  must  go; 
and  all  matters  at  the  convention  were  satisfactorily  ar- 
ranged. Eeturning,  he  found  that  the  child,  named  John, 
had  died  and  been  buried.  It  was  hard  for  him  to  preach 
on  the  following  Sunday;  but  under  a  similar  sense  of  duty 
he  did  preach,  taking  as  his  text  Genesis  xliii.  14:  ^'If 
I  be  bereaved  of  my  children,  I  am  bereaved."  ^  Through 
that  sermon  Mrs.  Ker  Boyce  was  converted;  and  others 
were  known  to  have  been  specially  blessed,  as  well  as  the 
preacher  himself.  In  after  years  he  would  sometimes  tell 
of  these  events,  as  showing  that  it  is  always  best  for  us  to 
subordinate  personal  and  family  affection  to  the  claims  of 
duty  in  the  service  of  Christ.  And  who  would  have 
thought  that  Mrs.  Boyce's  little  boy,  near  the  same  age  as 
the  one  he  had  lost,  was  in  the  course  of  Providence  to 
preach  Basil  Manly's  funeral  sermon,  with  grateful  recog- 
nition of  the  good  done  by  that  day's  discourse?  ^ 

1  The  notes  made  in  preparing  are  still  in  existence,  and  are  singu- 
larly interesting  and  suggestive.  Every  thought  comes  right  out  of  the 
text  or  the  occasion,  and  the  tone  is  healthy  and  uplifting. 

2  In  October,  1891,  the  venerable  and  greatly  beloved  widow  of  Dr. 
Manly  recited  the  circumstances  of  her  child's  death  in  a  letter  to  a  be- 
reaved young  mother,  and  added  :  "  The  Lord  was  with  us  both,  and 
strengthened  us  for  our  duties.  I  can  truly  say  He  comforted  us,  and 
has  ever  been  to  us  a  tender,  loving  Father.  Never  doubt  His  tender 
mercies,  my  child,  but  trust  in  Him,  and  He  will  sustain  and  com- 
fort you." 


10  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CITY   OF    CHARLESTON. 

CHARLESTOiSr  has  always  been  the  most  important 
city  on  the  southern  Atlantic  coast.  Its  harbor  is 
not  so  extensive  as  that  of  Port  Eoyal,  farther  south  in  the 
same  State,  but  was  far  better  adapted  to  defence  against 
assaults  from  the  sea.  Its  advantages  in  this  respect 
attracted  world-wide  observation  during  the  War  of  Se- 
cession. The  principal  channel  across  the  bar  has  some 
sixteen  feet  water  at  ebb  tide,  which  sufficed  for  the 
largest  sea-going  vessels  until  recent  times.  Since  1891 
jetties  have  been  built  by  Congressional  appropriations, 
which  are  beginning  to  wash  out  the  bar;  and  it  is  hoped 
they  will  so  deepen  the  channel  as  to  receive  the  largest 
ocean  steamers  of  to-day,  and  thus  greatly  increase  the 
prosperity  of  this  ancient  seaport.  The  site  of  the  city 
is  beautiful.  The  Ashley  and  Cooper  risers,  as  they 
approach  the  sea,  run  a  parallel  course  for  nearly  six  miles, 
at  no  great  distance  apart,  but  somewhat  widening  towards 
the  point  at  which  they  flow  into,  or  in  one  sense  consti- 
tute, the  bay.  On  this  peninsula  between  the  rivers  the 
city  is  built.  The  lower  end,  fronting  the  bay,  is  known 
as  the  Battery,—  doubtless  because  (as  in  New  York)  bat- 
teries were  early  placed  there  for  defence  against  hostile 
ships.  The  Cooper  Eiver,  on  the  northeastern  side  of  the 
city,  and  the   Ashley, ^  on   the    other   side,   are    pleasing 

1  The  rivers  of  South  Carolina  mostly  retain  their  Indian  names,  as 
Santee,  Pedee,  Wateree,  Congaree,  Enoree,  Edisto,  Ashepoo.  Saluda,  etc. 
So  the  two  rivers  here  mentioned  were  called  Etiwan  and  Kiawah,  hut 


THE   CITY  OF  CHARLESTON.  11 

streams,  and  after  their  union  the  bay  winds  its  way  out 
for  some  seven  miles  southeastward  to  the  ocean,  with 
islands  on  either  side  that  produce  a  picturesque  effect, 
besides  affording  great  facilities  for  defence.  Sullivan's 
Island,  on  the  northeastern  side  of  the  bay,  has  long  been 
the  seat  of  summer  homes  for  some  of  the  citizens.  Here 
is  situated  Fort  j\Loultrie,  successor  to  that  palmetto  fort 
which  in  1776  resisted  the  bombardment  of  the  British 
fleet,  and  fairly  drove  it  away.  The  cannon-balls  might 
penetrate  into  the  palmetto  logs,  but  their  peculiar  tough- 
ness of  texture  received  and  held  the  iron  masses,  without 
weakening  the  fortification.  On  the  other  side  of  the 
harbor  lie  James's  Island  and  Morris  Island,  which  be- 
came so  famous  during  the  recent  war.  Between  Morris 
and  Sullivan's  Island,  upon  a  shoal  in  the  harbor,  and 
covering  the  main  channel,  is  Fort  Sumter,  which  was 
first  built  when  James  P.  Boyce  was  a  child,  but  in  fact 
was  not  entirely  completed  when  it  became  the  theatre  of 
the  celebrated  bombardment  and  defence.^  On  a  smaller 
shoal  and  much  nearer  to  the  city  is  the  little  fort  called 
Castle  Pinckney.  The  two  rivers,  the  inner  harbor,  and 
the  narrow  straits  that  separate  the  islands  from  the  main- 
land and  from  each  other,  are  admirably  adapted  to  boat- 
ing and  fishing;  and  all  the  coast  region  formerly  abounded 
in  game,  attracting  the  vigorous  huntsman,  with,  his  gun 
and  dogs.  The  city  is  very  healthy,  for  those  who  are  ac- 
climated, as  the  heat  in  summer  is  delightfully  tempered 
by  the  sea-breeze.  The  average  mortality  is  far  less  — 
as  also  in  most  of  the  cities  on  our  southern  coast — than 
in  the  great  cities  of  the  North.     Occasional  outbursts  of 

afterwards  received  the  two  names  of  Sir  Ashley  Cooper.      Gilmore 
Simms  has  a  novel  called  "  The  Cacique  of  Kiawah." 

1  See  "The  Defence  of  Charleston  Harbor  (1863-1865),"  by  Rev. 
John  Johnson,  who  was  Confederate  Major  of  Engineers  in  charge  of 
Fort  Sumter,  and  has  gWen  us  an  admirable  book.  Charleston: 
Walker,  Evans,  &  Cogswell  Co. 


12  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

yellow  fever,  brought  from  the  West  Indies,  impress  the 
imagiuation  of  people  at  a  distance  like  some  great  rail- 
way or  steamboat  accident,  while  yet  travel  by  steamer  or 
rail  is  on  the  average  far  safer  than  by  private  convey- 
ance. The  diseases  produced  by  extreme  cold  in  northern 
regions  are  much  more  destructive  to  life  than  those  pro- 
duced by  extreme  heat,  —  a  fact  vrhich  reminds  us  that 
all  the  earliest  seats  of  civilization  were  in  hot  countries.^ 
The  wealthier  people  of  Charleston  and  all  the  adjacenu 
coast  region  could  in  summer  cross  at  pleasure  to  Sullivan's 
Island  and  other  cool  spots  on  the  bay,  or  coull  journey 
in  their  private  carriages  to  Ccesar's  Head,  Flat  Rock,  or 
Asheville,  in  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina,  or  far  away 
to  the  White  Sulphur  and  other  springs  in  the  Virginia 
mountains,  where  South  Carolinians  used  to  be  very  nu- 
merous, or  could  go  by  sea  to  Saratoga  and  Newport,  or 
across  to  Europe.  Thus  they  possessed  a  rare  combination 
of  advantages  for  health  and  ever}'-  higher  gratification. 
The  planters  who  produced  ''sea-island"  cotton,  the  long 
staple  of  which  was  so  much  better  adapted  than  "up- 
lands "  to  the  manufacture  of  all  the  finer  fabrics,  and 
thus  commanded  a  greatly  higher  price,  were  better  off 
than  the  owners  of  a  gold-mine.  Besides  the  summer 
journeys  above  mentioned,  many  of  them  would  spend  part 
of  the  winter  in  spacious  and  hosjiitable  establishments 
which  they  maintained  in  Charleston,  or  in  Columbia,  the 
capital  of  the  State,  where  they  formed  a  ruling  element 
in  legislation  and  government.  Every  low-country  parish 
had  its  separate  senator,  and  the  districts  a  much  larger 
proportionate  representation  in  the  lower  house  than  had 
been  assigned  by  the  old  and  still  unchanged  legislation 
to  the  up-country  districts.  In  a  word,  the  wealthy 
planters  around  and  the  wealthy  citizens  of  Charleston 
constituted  an  aristocracy,  with  all  the  good  and  ill  attach- 
ing to  such  a  social  condition.  It  is  the  fashion  now  in 
our  country  and  in  most  countries  to  have  only  words  of 


THE  CITY  OF  CHAKLESTON.  13 

scorn  for  aristocratic  institutions;  yet,  as  often  seen  in 
America  as  well  as  in  England,  they  certainly  afford  very 
great  opportunity  for  developing  and  exalting  individual 
character,  and  furnishing  noble  leaders  of  mankind.  Many 
of  these  Charleston  an!  low-country  homes  gathered  large 
and  carefully  chosen  libraries,  with  a  growing  preference 
for  English  editions,  and  often  bound  in  English  tree-calf. 
These  books  were  read,  and  high  discussion  of  history  and 
literature,  as  well  as  philosophy  and  politics,  prevailed  in 
domestic  and  social  gatherings,  besides  clubs  and  societies 
formed  for  the  purpose,  and  conducted  with  great  spirit. 
Charleston  was  long  the  chief  seat  of  culture  at  the  South, 
as  Boston  was  at  the  North.  Dr.  J.  B.  Jeter,  a  celebrated 
Baptist  minister  of  Virginia,  from  whom  a  thousand  say- 
ings are  repeated,  once  visited  Charleston,  having  pre- 
viously spent  some  time  in  Boston.  One  day  he  asked  a 
friend  in  Charleston,  ''  What  do  you  think  is  the  difference 
in  the  look  of  a  Boston  man  and  a  Charleston  man?'' 
The  friend  referred  the  question  back  to  him,  and  he  said: 
"  A  Boston  man  looks  as  if  he  thought, '  I  know  everj^thing;* 
and  a  Charleston  man,  'I  know  everything  that  it's  worth 
while  for  a  gentleman  to  know.'  "  It  was  a  palpable  hit, 
and  might  repay  a  good  deal  of  reflection. 

The  population  of  Charleston  in  1830,  when  James  P^ 
Boyce  was  a  child,  was  30,289,  of  whom  12,828  were 
whites.  In  1840  the  whites  were  13,030,  and  the  blacks 
had  fallen  off  a  little,  being  probably  more  in  demand  on 
the  plantations,  so  that  the  total  was  29,261.*^  After  this 
the  white  population  gained  more  rapidly.  In  1860  the 
total  was  40,519,  of  whom  23,373  were  white.  In  1870  it 
was  48,956,  of  whom  the  whites  were  26,207;  but  it  is  un- 
derstood that  the  blacks  in  that  census  were  often  quite 
incompletely  enumerated.  In  1890  the  total  was  54,955, 
of  whom  23, 919  were  whites ;  and  the  blacks  were  again 
largely  in  the  majority. 


14  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CHILDHOOD   AND    YOUTH. 

THE  oldest  child  of  Ker  Boyce's  second  marriage,  born 
Jan.  11,  1827,  was  named  after  James  L.  Petigru, 
a  highly  distinguished  lawyer  of  Charleston,  a  man 
of  brilliant  wit  and  other  attractive  qualities,  and  Mr. 
Boyce's  cherished  friend.  He  was  of  mixed  Scotch-Irish 
and  Huguenot  ancestry,  and  born  and  reared  in  Abbeville 
District,  adjoining  Newberry.  Mr.  Boyce  and  he  were  of 
nearly  the  same  age,  and  removed  about  the  same  time  to 
Charleston.  Ere  man^^  years  Mr.  Petigru  had  no  rival  at 
the  Bar.  In  1822-30  he  was  attorney-general  of  the  State, 
and  exceedingly  popular.  This  popularity  was  greatly 
diminished  by  his  opposition  to  the  Nullification  move- 
ment of  1830-32,  which  doubtless  prevented  his  rising  into 
the  highest  political  distinction.  In  later  years  he  was 
also  steadfastly  opposed  to  the  Secession  movement;  but  (as 
we  shall  see)  was  so  highly  esteemed  for  personal  char- 
acter, and  legal  abilities  and  attainments,  that  a  Legis- 
lature bitterly  hostile  to  his  opinions  treated  him  with 
marked  consideration.  Mr.  Petigru's  wife  was  quite  a  mu- 
sician, and  one  of  their  daughters  was  an  artist;  but  he 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  himself  much  acquainted  with 
music,  whatever  other  artistic  gifts  he  may  have  possessed. 
The  story  is  told  that  once  when  Ole  Bull  came  to  Charles- 
ton, at  the  height  of  his  reputation,  and,  appearing  on  the 
platform,  began  to  tune  the  violin  a  little,  Mr.  Petigru 
turned  to  his  wife  and  said,  "My  dear,  isn'  t  that  superb !  " 
"Hush,  Mr.  Petigru!  "  she  replied,  "  he  is  only  tuning  the 
instrument;  you'll  disgrace  yourself."     The  great  lawyer 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  15 

subsided  in  humiliation,  and  a  good  while  afterwards, 
when  Bull  was  in  the  midst  of  one  of  his  noblest  passages, 
Mr.  Petigru  timidly  touched  his  wife's  elbow  and  said, 
*'My  dear,  will  the  man  never  get  done  tuning  his 
violin?"  Mr.  Petigru  long  outlived  his  early  friend, 
surviving  until  1863,  when  his  namesake  had  become  a 
man  widely  known  and  honored.^ 

The  earliest  glimpse  we  get  of  Jimmy  Boyce,  as  he  was 
familiarly  called,  is  in  connection  with  public  worsliip. 
In  the  old  First  Baptist  Church  of  Charleston,  not  many 
squares  from  the  Battery,  the  beloved  Thomas  P.  Smitli, 
long  a  cotton  factor  in  the  city,  recently  pointed  out  to  the 
writer  the  Boyce  pew.  It  is  a  long  pew,  rather  near  the 
pulpit,  extending  from  the  centre  aisle  to  the  side  aisle, 
and  having  only  space  enough  for  one  seat  between  the 
side  aisle  and  a  large  wooden  column.  In  this  space  the 
rotund  boy,  with  his  fine  head,  could  be  seen  regularly 
every  Sunday,  absorbed  in  a  book  until  the  service  began ; 
and  people  called  him  '^the  little  guardsman,''  always  at 
his  post.  In  this  slight  incident  are  already  revealed 
several  distinctive  characteristics,  —  punctuality  and  self- 
reliance,   love  of  reading,   interest  in  public  worship. 

The  pastor  at  that  time,  as  already  indicated,  was  Basil 
Manly  the  elder,  who  became  one  of  the  most  eminent 
Baptist  ministers  in  the  whole  country.  He  was  born  in 
Chatham  County,  North  Carolina,  1798 ;  his  elder  brother, 
Charles,  became  governor  of  that  State,  and  his  younger 
brother,  Matthias  E.,  became  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State.  Basil  graduated  at  the  College  of 
South  Carolina  in  1821,  with  the  first  honor,  his  fellow- 
students  including  many  gifted  men.  After  preaching 
some  years  at  Edgefield  Courthouse,  he  removed  to  Charles- 
ton in  March,  1826,  and  remained  till  1837.  Then  for 
nearly  twenty  years  he  was  president  of  the  State  Uni- 

1  See  a  Biographical  Sketch  of  J.  L.  Petigru,  by  W.  J.  Grayson. 
New  York:   Harpers,  1866. 


16  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

versity  of  Alabama,  showing  extraordinary  talent  for 
administration  as  well  as  instruction.  But  lie  always 
loved  the  pastorate  best,  and  returned  to  Charleston  in 
1855.  He  spent  his  last  years  of  failing  health  with  his 
son  and  namesake  at  Greenville,  S.  C,  where  he  died  in 
1868.  It  was  among  the  marked  advantages  of  James  P. 
Boyce's  childhood  to  attend  on  Dr.  Manly's  ministry,  and 
be  brought  in  contact  with  such  a  pastor.  His  preaching 
was  always  marked  by  deep  thought  and  strong  argument, 
expressed  in  a  very  clear  style,  and  by  an  extraordinary 
earnestness  and  tender  pathos,  curiously  combined  with 
positiveness  of  opinion  and  a  masterful  nature.  People 
were  borne  down  by  his  passion,  convinced  by  his  argu- 
ments, melted  by  his  tenderness,  swayed  by  his  force  of 
will.  James  Boyce  was  only  ten  years  old  when  this  hon- 
ored pastor  moved  away;  but  we  might  be  sure  he  received 
from  him  in  public  and  in  private  many  a  wholesome  and 
lasting  impression. 

Nor  are  we  left  to  conjecture  as  to  this  matter.  Witness 
the  following  extract  from  Dr.  Boyce's  Funeral  Discourse 
upon  the  death  of  Dr.  Manly  in  1868:  "  Indeed,  I  do  not 
know  how  a  people  could  be  more  attached  to  a  pastor  than 
they  were  to  Mr.  Manly.  He  made  himself  accessible  to 
all,  manifested  deep  interest  in  their  welfare,  readily  ad- 
vised them  according  to  his  best  judgment,  and  above  all 
showed  a  cordial  sympathy  with  their  joys  and  sorrows. 
Especially  was  this  true  in  spiritual  matters.  No  one 
ever  understood  better  how  to  console  a  suffering  soul,  or 
dealt  with  it  more  tenderly.  And  his  people  loved  him 
with  a  depth  of  devotion  seldom  equalled.  Nor  was  this 
confined  to  the  members  of  the  church.  The  presence  of 
no  one  conferred  more  pleasure  upon  any  family.  The 
little  children  felt  him  to  be  their  own,  and  spoke  of  him 
as  such.  And  he  loved  them,  and  never  forgot  the  word 
of  kind  exhortation,  or  admonition,  or  sympathy,  suited  to 
their  case.     The  elders  found  in  his  genial  intercourse  a 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  17 

true  copy  of  that  of  his  Master,  who  mingled  with  men 
everywhere,  entering  into  the  ordinary  social  festivities  of 
life,  yet  ever  ready  to  utter  the  warning  words  of  wisdom 
or  counsel.  It  was  his  peculiar  forte  to  say  a  word  in 
season,  and  from  his  lips  things  unseasonable  from  others 
would  be  acceptable,  because  of  the  way  in  which  he  spoke 
them.  .  .  .  After  a  lapse  of  more  than  thirty  years  I  can 
yet  feel  the  weight  of  his  hand,  resting  in  gentleness  and 
love  upon  my  head.  I  can  recall  the  words  of  fatherly 
tenderness,  with  which  he  sought  to  guide  my  childish 
steps.  I  can  see  his  beloved  form  in  the  study,  in  the 
house  in  King  Street.  I  can  again  behold  him  in  our  own 
family  circle.  I  can  remember  the  very  spot  in  the  house, 
where  the  bands  which  he  was  accustomed  to  wear  with  his 
gown  were  laid  on  a  certain  Thanksgiving  Day  on  which 
he  dined  with  us.  I  can  call  to  mind  his  conversations 
with  my  mother,  to  whose  salvation  had  been  blessed  a  ser- 
mon preached  on  the  Sunday  after  the  death  of  one  of  his 
children  upon  the  text,  ^  If  I  be  bereaved  of  my  children, 
I  am  bereaved.'  And  once  more  come  to  me  the  words  of 
sympathy  which  he  spake  while  he  wept  with  her  family 
over  her  dead  bod}",  and  ministered  to  them  as  it  was  laid 
in  the  grave." 

James's  boyhood  and  early  youth  were  not  fruitful  of 
events.  He  entered,  we  are  told  by  a  comrade,  into  few  of 
the  games  that  prevailed  among  boys.  He  did  not  ''shoot 
marbles,"  "play  shinny,"  or  engage  in  games  of  ball  or 
''prisoner's  base."^  As  a  bigger  boy,  he  was  not  given 
to  running,  swimming,  rowing,  sailing,  horseback-riding, 
or  gunning.  He  was  even  averse  to  most  of  these  sports, 
and  through  life  never  felt  at  ease  on  horseback.  The  ex- 
planation of  all  this  is  not  found  in  any  lack  of  sportive 

1  Another  schoolmate  writes  to  the  same  general  effect,  but  says  that 
he  joined  with  great  zest  in  such  games  as  ball  and  shinny.  In  this 
conflict  of  authorities  the  Muse  of  History  can  only  leave  the  question 
undecided. 

2 


18  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

disposition,  for  lie  was  the  very  quintessence  of  fun  and 
jollity,  but  chiefly  in  the  fact  of  his  unusual  size,  which 
did  not  qualify  him  for  sports  requiring  much  activity 
or  involving  risk,  and  to  which  he  sometimes  referred  in 
later  years  as  having  materially  conditioned  his  early  life. 
For  the  same  reason,  he  never  indulged  in  boxing,  fencing, 
or  fighting,  — a  not  uncommon  amusement  of  Charleston 
boj^s  in  his  school-da^^s.  But  this  negative  view  of  his 
youthful  likes  and  dislikes  makes  only  more  prominent  his 
fondness  for  archery.  He  organized  a  company  of  archers 
on  the  spacious  grounds  about  his  home  in  George  Street, 
and  was  j:iuite  enthusiastic  in  the  sport.  Some  of  his 
friends  find  significance  in  this  early  desire  for  a  definite 
object  to  aim  at  and  hit.  And  his  occasional  liking  for 
the  more  complicated  aims  and  movements  of  the  billiard 
table,  with  the  great  delight  in  chess  which  he  developed 
at  a  later  period,  could  hardly  fail  to  suggest  the  skill  and 
mastery  of  his  combinations  in  after  life.  A  friend  of 
about  the  same  age  who  knew  him  well  adds  the  testimony 
that  he  was  scrupulously  temperate,  and  that  the  most 
searching  scrutiny  of  memory  does  not  recall  a  single 
act  which  stained  his  youth  or  young  manhood  with  the 
slightest  dishonor. 

From  early  childhood,  James  was  an  excessive  reader. 
AYhile  his  companions  were  in  the  ''city  square,"  or  on 
the  ''citadel  green,"  engaged  in  their  physical  sports, 
he  would  be  lying  flat  on  the  "  joggling-board, "  in  his 
father's  piazza,  absorbed  in  some  story-book,  novel,  or  his- 
tory. He  would  often  drive  down  town  with  his  father, 
on  the  way  to  the  bank  of  which  Ker  Boyce  had  become 
president,  and  return  with  a  pile  of  books  on  the  front 
seat  of  the  carriage,  brought  from  the  Charleston  Library 
and  other  places;  and  these  books  he  would  devour  in  an 
incredibly  short  time.  His  voraciousness  only  increased 
by  gratification ;  and  the  number  and  variety  of  books  that 
he  read,  all  through  life,  was  a  marvel  to  his  family  and 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  19 

intimate  friends.  Besides  his  arcliery  club,  he  organized 
at  home  a  debating  society.  The  ''hall'^  was  the  room 
over  his  father's  carriage-house.  He  was  a  leader  then,  as 
he  became  afterwards  in  the  college  societies  and  in  denom- 
inational gatherings.  Some  of  the  lads  who  stood  with 
him  in  that  ''upper  room"  have  ranked,  or  rank  now, 
among  the  foremost  men  of  the  Southern  country.  It  is 
evident  that  the  wide  reading,  which  was  thought  exces- 
sive by  his  home  folks  and  teachers,  would  serve  him  a 
good  part  on  the  floor  of  the  debating  society. 

When  James  was  ten  years  old,  his  mother  died,  leav- 
ing four  children  younger  than  himself,  of  whom  she 
charged  him  to  take  care;  and  this  he  often  recalled  in 
after  life  when  thanked  for  any  kindness.  Her  life  and 
character  made  a  great  impression  on  Mary  also,  the 
daughter  of  the  first  laarriage,  then  fourteen  years  old; 
and  she  and  James  would  try  very  earnestly  in  the  years 
that  followed  to  carry  out  all  her  rules  in  the  home  life. 
The  oldest  now  surviviiig  daughter  can  remember  but  little 
of  their  mother,  except  that  she  was  very  particular  about 
truthfulness,  as  James  also  was  through  life.  It  is  related 
that  she  once  gave  the  lad  a  hard  Irsson  in  this  respect. 
He  remarked  one  Saturday  morning  that  he  would  spend 
all  his  Saturday  money  on  candy,  and  eat  it  all  himself. 
When  he  returned,  and,  with  his  usual  hearty  generosity, 
wanted  to  distribute  his  candy,  he  was  required  to  eat  it  all 
himself,  because  he  had  said  he  would.  He  took  one  of  the 
little  girls  aside,  and  begged  that  she  would  ask  mother 
to  let  him  give  her  some;  but  no.  Such  was  Mrs.  Boyce's 
extreme  solicitude  as  to  truth ;  for  there  was  no  thought  of 
James's  being  stingy.  At  that  time  and  through  life  he 
was  not  only  generous,  but  very  considerate  towards  others, 
and  seemed  to  have  as  much  delicate  tact  and  intuitive  per- 
ception of  the  situation  as  women  have.  He  was  also  very 
grateful  for  any  present  or  any  slightest  attention,  —  a 
rose,  a  book,  or  anything;  and  would  tell  his  little  sister 


20  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

how  kind  somebody  had  been.  The  younger  children  were 
very  fond  of  James,  and  felfc  that  they  could  dej^end  on 
him.  He  seemed  to  be  an  "all-round"  person,  ready  for 
everything.  It  is  said  that  the  four  boys  and  four  girls  of 
the  household  gradually  fell  into  couples;  James  and  Re- 
becca being  special  cronies,  John  and  Mary,  Samuel  and 
Nanny,  Kerr  and  Lizzie.  Yet  James  showed  no  unplea- 
sant favoritism  in  any  way,  and  was  always  sympathetic, 
not  only  towards  the  other  children,  but  to  everybody.  A 
friend  states  that  the  family  housekeeper  of  those  days, 
who  cared  for  the  children,  was  in  after  years  uniformly 
visited  by  Dr.  Boyce  when  in  Charleston,  and  we  learn 
from  his  business  agent  in  Charleston  that  he  regularly 
supplied  her  wants  as  long  as  she  lived,  and  provided  for 
her  funeral. 

At  home,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  James  was  fond  of  fun, 
delighting  in  all  manner  of  jokes,  and  never  at  all  vexed 
when  made  the  butt  of  a  joke  himself.  This  sportive  turn 
of  mind  was  clearly  inherited  from  his  father,  who  over- 
flowed with  amusing  stories  of  his  own  youth.  James 
liked  when  a  lad  to  go  out  at  Christmas  to  the  plantation 
homes  of  his  father's  friends,  where  they  often  dispensed 
a  magnificent  and  delightful  hospitality;  and  when  some- 
what older,  he  was  quite  fond  of  being  with  girls.  His 
father  required  the  boys  to  be  scrupulously  polite  and 
attentive  to  their  sisters,  and  himself  alwaj^s  treated  his 
daughters  with  marked  courtesy  and  consideration.  If  one 
of  them  was  out  at  evening,  she  must  not  come  home  in 
the  carriage  alone,  but  one  of  her  brothers  must  go  after 
her.  Through  life  their  father  would  give  a  son  almost 
anything  that  one  of  his  sisters  asked. ^  The  beginning 
of  James's  library  was  made  with  a  gift  of  five  hundred 

1  In  like  manner  Patrick  Henry,  as  we  learn  through  his  brother-in- 
law,  was  always  the  advocate  of  his  sisters  "when  any  favor  or  indul- 
gence was  to  be  procured  from  their  mother"  (Wirt  Henry's  Life  of 
Patrick  Henry,  vol.  i.  p.  9). 


CHILDHOOD  AND   YOUTH.  21 

dollars,  handed  him  in  New  York  after  he  graduated  at 
college,  at  the  special  request  of  Nanny,  as  a  gift  to  her. 
James  was  remarkable  for  being  easy  to  please  as  to  bodily 
comfort,  and  this  continued  through  life,  in  all  his  wide 
travelling;  he  would  be  sometimes  quite  solicitous  about 
a  companion's  comfort,  and  not  seem  to  think  of  himself. 
It  is  also  remembered  that  he  appeared  to  his  sisters  a 
brave  boy,  while  gentle  and  tender,  and  that  he  was  sin- 
gularly kind  to  animals.  Those  who  knew  him  in  later 
life  would  see  in  all  this  how  ''the  child  is  father  of  the 
man." 

Mrs.  General  Dickinson,  of  Florida,  nee  Mar}^  Elizabeth 
Ling,  on  a  visit  to  Louisville  in  1890  told  that  when  a 
little  girl  at  the  dancing-school  in  Charleston  she  was  al- 
ways glad  whenever  Madame  Feugas  told  her  to  waltz  with 
Jimmy  Bo^^ce,  because  he  was  so  springy  and  strong,  and 
they  went  whirling.  This  exercise  served  to  make  some 
amends  for  the  lad's  disinclination  to  schoolboy  sports. 
We  know  that  his  "barrel-shaped"  figure — as  several 
have  described  it  —  finally  developed  into  a  very  symmet- 
rical specimen  of  "  episcopal  dimensions,"  and  his  move- 
ments were  always  remarkably  light  and  graceful. 

In  his  earlier  school-days  James  was  hardly  a  student, 
in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  but  seemed  to 
neglect  his  text-books  through  devotion  to  general  reading. 
Dr.  W.  T.  Brantly,  Sr.,  who  was  pastor  of  the  First 
Church  from  1837-1844,  called  Mr.  Boyce's  attention  to 
this  defect  in  the  lad.  He  was  not  then  old  enough  to  enter 
Charleston  College,  though  he  had  been  over  the  requisite 
studies.  The  father,  who  had  a  remarkable  knowledge  of 
men,  as  shown  throughout  his  business  career,  had  tried  a 
successful  experiment  on  an  older  son,  which  he  now  re- 
peated. Samuel,  who  was  seven  years  older  than  James, 
had  said  much  about  a  desire  to  go  to  sea.  His  father 
finally  secured  him  a  cabin  passage  from  New  York  around 
Cape  Horn-,  and  after  an  absence  of  two  years,  he  never 


22  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

spoke  again  of  going  to  sea.  In  like  manner,  James  was 
taken  from  school  and  put  in  the  wholesale  drvgoods  store 
of  Wiley,  Banks,  &  Co.,  in  which  his  father  was  a  partner. 
This  new  life  would  give  excellent  training  of  a  certain 
kind  until  he  grew  old  enough  for  college.  James  him- 
self once  told  the  writer  in  later  years  how  his  father  gave 
express  directions,  both  to  him  and  to  the  men  in  the 
store,  that  he  was  to  perform  his  full  share  of  all  the 
roughest  and  hardest  work  done  by  other  boj-s  of  the  same 
age.  He  must  rise  at  six  in  the  morning,  go  down  and 
help  to  sweep  out  the  establishment,  and  at  any  time  be 
ready  to  help  bring  out  the  heaviest  boxes,  and  in  general 
must  stand  back  for  nothing.  All  this  exactly  suited  his 
energetic  temperament.^  Many  a  rich  man's  son  might 
feel  in  after  life,  as  was  felt  in  this  case,  that  such  a 
boyish  discipline  had  been  very  helpful.  However,  six 
months  of  it  sufficed  for  the  lad's  wishes,  and  he  was  quite 
willing  to  return  to  school.  He  had  always  stood  fairly 
well  in  his  classes,  as  a  classmate  testifies.  The  fact  is, 
he  acquired  the  appointed  lessons  w^ith  wonderful  rapidity; 
and  then  threw  aside  his  school-books  to  revel  in  his 
favorite  authors,  —  never,  however,  of  evil  or  doubtful 
character,  the  books  he  read  being  always  open  to  the  in- 
spection of  the  family.  But  returning  now  to  school,  he 
turned  over  a  new  leaf  as  to  the  lessons,  and  applied  him- 
self with  such  diligence  as  to  have  an  excellent  standing 
in  his  classes,  both  at  the  well-known  private  school  of 
Professor  Bailey,  at  the  High  School,  and  at  the  Charleston 
College. 

Yet,  while  the  lessons  now  received  regular  attention, 
the  wide  reading  continued.     Apart  from  the  books  com- 

1  The  early  familiarity  witli  elegant  dress-goods  also  helped  to 
develop  his  remarkable  talent  and  taste  in  that  respect.  In  after 
years  his  wife  and  sisters  and  daughters  not  only  sought  his  advice  in 
such  matters,  but  would  often  commission  him,  when  visiting 
Charleston  or  New  York,  to  make  the  most  important  selections. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  23 

mon   to   all  well-f urnislied   boys   of  that   period,  —  those 
great  classics  of  literature  for  the  young  which  are  at  the 
present  day  in  danger  of  being  neglected  for  the  immense 
multitude  of  current  and  transient  books,  —  and  besides 
the  novels  of  Cooper  and  Marryatt,  we  can  see  that  the 
eager  young  reader  would  find  much  to  attract  him  in  the 
early  history  of   Charleston  and  of   South  Carolina.     He 
would  often  notice  a  fine  statue  of  William  Pitt  (Earl  of 
Chatham),  ''  erected  by  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly 
of   South  Carolina,''  in  gratitude  for  his  procuring  a  re- 
peal of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766.     It  was  placed  in  1769  at 
the  intersection  of  Broad  and  Meeting  Streets.     The  right 
arm  was  destroyed  by  a  cannon-ball  from  the  English  bat- 
teries on  James  Island  during  the  siege  of  Charleston  in 
1780.     After  1808  it  stood  in  front  of  the  Orphan  House 
until  a  recent  time.     This  fine  statue  would  kindle  the 
lad's  curiosity  about  the  causes  of   the  great    American 
Eevolution.     William  Gilmore  Simms  published  in  1840, 
when  James  Boyce  was  thirteen  years  old,  a  *' History  of 
South  Carolina,  from   its  first  European  Discovery  to  its 
Erection    into    a   Republic,"   designed  avowedly  for   the 
young,  and  suggested  by  the  wants  of  his  own  daughters. 
Written  in  the  author's  flowing  and  agreeable  style,  and 
detailing  the  early  settlement  of  South  Carolina,  the  three 
attacks   of   the  British   upon   Charleston,    including   the 
famous  story  of  the  Palmetto  fort  and  Sergeant  Jasper,  and 
the  stirring  adventures  of  Marion  and  Sumter,  we  may  be 
sure  that  this  book  was  eagerly  seized  upon  by  a  lad  so 
fond  of  reading.     Mr.  Simms  was  a  native  of  Charleston, 
and  spent  his   life   there  (1806  to  1870),  though  usually 
giving  half  the  year  to  his  country  home  in  Barnwell  Dis- 
trict.    Before  the  appearance  of  this  history  he  had  pub- 
lished numerous  volumes  of  poems  and  romances,  including 
the  "  Yemassee,"  which  is  considered  his  best  novel,  and  the 
"Partisan,"  which  is  a  romance  with  Marion  as  the  chief 
hero;  many  others  appeared  while  James  Boyce  was  still 


24  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

growing  up  in  Charleston.  Mr.  Simms,  like  some  other 
famous  novelists,  wrote  too  rapidly  and  hurriedl}^,  and  thus 
fell  short  of  doing  justice  to  his  noble  powers.  Yet  Edgar 
A.  Poe  pronounced  him  ''the  best  novelist  America  had 
produced,  after  Cooper/'  and  bis  books  of  every  kind  were 
exactly  suited  to  delight  an  enthusiastic  Charleston  youth. 
It  is  worth  while  to  notice  that  his  History  of  South  Caro- 
lina ended  with  the  close  of  the  Revolution;  and  the  phrase 
in  the  title,  "to  its  Erection  into  a  Eepublic,"  is  an  amus- 
ing indication  of  the  type  of  political  opinion  which  was 
so  popular  in  the  State. ^  Besides  the  works  of  Simms  and 
others,  ''Horse-shoe  Eobinson  "  was  at  that  time  a  favorite 
Southern  romance.  James  was  too  youijg  to  be  much  in- 
terested in  the  brilliant  and  powerful  "  Southern  Eeview," 
published  in  Charleston  from  1832  to  1840,  and  edited  by 
the  famous  Hugh  S.  Legare  and  others ;  but  he  read  the 
volumes  as  he  grew  older,  and  was  not  a  little  stirred  by 
the  presence  in  the  city  of  several  gifted  and  eminent  men 
who  had  contributed  to  it  essays  seldom  equalled  in  even 
the  great  English  Quarterlies. 

Professor  William  E.  Bailey,  who  was  young  Boyce's 
first  teacher  after  he  returned  to  school,  was  a  man  of 
classic  tastes  and  aspirations,  and  evidently  became  much 
attached  to  this  now  diligent  pupil;  for  when  James  P. 
Boyce  opened  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Greenville  in 
1859,  it  received  Professor  Bailey's  library,  specially  be- 
queathed by  him  for  that  purpose,  and  comprising,  among 
the  thirteen  hundred  volumes,  many  of  the  most  elaborate 
and  costly  editions  of  the  great  classic  authors,  as  well  as 
the  histories  of  Prescott  and  Motley  and  many  others,  and 
a  complete  edition  of  Gilmore  Simms's  novels,  which  have 
doubtless  many  a  time  relieved  the  ever-arduous  labors  of 
theological  students. 

1  After  this  was  written  appeared  the  Life  of  William  Gilmore 
Simms,  by  W.  P.  Trent  (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.).  It  is  an  interest- 
ing book,  but  the  author  seems  curiously  incapable  of  understanding 
the  Carolina  people  of  that  day. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH.  25 

The  Charleston  High  School  had  been  organized  in  1839. 
The  venerable  Dr.  Henry  M.  Bruns,  who  still  resides  in 
Charleston,  at  a  great  age,  was  principal  at  the  time  when 
James  Boyce  was  for  six  months  a  student  there.  Among 
the  teachers  was  Andrew  Flynn  Dickson,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  a  remarkably  gifted  man,  specially  zealous 
about  distinguishing  between  words,  and  always  using 
exactly  the  right  term.  It  is  quite  likely  that  in  this 
respect  he  made  a  definite  impression  on  his  pupil,  who 
was  through  life  solicitous  to  get  the  right  word,  and  was 
thereby  frequently  retarded  in  extemporaneous  utterance. 
Dr.  Bruns  recently  told  the  writer  that  young  Boyce  was 
fonder  of  mathematics  than  of  classics,  and  received  at  the 
Commencement  a  silver  medal  for  solving  an  original 
problem  in  algebra.  He  was  a  good,  sensible  lad,  con- 
scientious in  preparing  his  lessons,  jolly,  and  quite  pop- 
ular with  the  students.  The  Commencement  mentioned 
was  held  at  the  Lutheran  church,  the  pastor  of  which  was 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Bachman,  whose  works  on  natural 
history  (some  of  them  in  association  with  Audubon,  v»dth 
whom  he  was  also  closely  connected  by  marriage)  did  not 
begin  to  appear  until  1850.  Bachman  was  already  a  great 
promoter  of  education.  Coming  originally  from  New 
York  State,  he  continued  pastor  of  this  church  from  1815 
until  his  death  in  1874.  He  was  a  friend  of  Ker  Boyce, 
and  was  always  regarded  by  his  son  with  great  pride  as  an 
honor  to  Charleston.  Other  medals  were  taken  at  this 
Commencement  by  Bazile  E.  Lanneau,  afterwards  a  Pres- 
byterian minister  and  theological  professor  (and  brother 
of  Rev.  Charles  H.  Lanneau),  whose  kinsman  and  namesake 
is  Basil  Lanneau  Gildersleeve,  the  famous  Professor  of 
Greek  in  the  University  of  Virginia  and  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  himself  a  native  of  Charleston;  by  Charles  H. 
Simonton,  now  United  States  Judge  for  the  District  of 
South  Carolina,  and  one  or  two  other  men  who  became  well 
known.    The  venerable  principal  remembers  that  the  poet, 


26  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

Henr\^  Timrod,  was  also  his  pupil  at  the  High  School,  and 
that  he  recited  at  Commencement  a  passage  from  Moore 
with  beautiful  effect.  Timrod  was  a  native  of  Charleston, 
two  years  younger  than  James  Boyce,  and  is  said  by  Mr. 
W.  G.  Whilden  to  have  been  one  of  Boyce's  intimate 
friends.  He  afterwards  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Mr. 
Petigru,  as  Boyce  would  no  doubt  have  done  had  his 
father's  cherished  wish  been  carried  through.  Paul  H. 
Hayne,  another  distinguished  Carolina  poet,  was  also  a 
Charlestonian,  three  years  younger  than  James  Boyce,  and 
resided  there  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life.  After 
Boyce  had  sj)ent  some  time  at  Charleston  College,  and  de- 
signed to  enter  Brown  University,  Dr.  Bruns  gave  him 
some  special  lessons  by  way  of  j^reparation.  It  is  said 
that  at  the  memorial  services  held  in  the  Old  First  Church 
after  Dr.  Boyce's  death,  this  aged  teacher  was  present, 
and  showed  deep  emotion.  A  life-long  instructor  can  have 
no  truer,  deeper  joy  than  in  survejang  the  noble  character 
and  useful  career  of  those  whom  he  helped  to  mould  in 
their  youth.  Mr.  Whilden  states  that  while  at  the  High 
School  James  was  frequently  a  peacemaker  among  the 
boys,  because  of  the  confidence  felt  in  his  justice  and 
equity;  also  that  his  amiability  and  courtesy  won  him 
friends  among  all  classes,  rich  and  poor;  and  though  all 
knew  that  his  father  possessed  large  means,  it  was  no  bar- 
rier to  general  sociability.  This  was  the  more  remarkable 
in  the  case  of  one  who  already  had  very  decided  views,  and 
a  ver}^  earnest  way  of  expressing  them. 

In  the  Sunday-school  he  was  at  one  time  taught  by 
Charles  H.  Lanneau,  Sr.,  a  man  of  excellent  talents  and 
noble  character,  other  members  of  the  class  being  J.  L. 
Reynolds,  Basil  Manly,  Jr.,  William  Royall,  William  J. 
Hard,  and  T.  W.  Mellichamp,  all  of  whom  became  ministers. 
When  twelve  years  old  his  Sunday-school  teacher  at  the 
First  Church  was  Henry  Holcombe  Tucker,  who  became 
one  of  the  most  distiuguished  Baptist  preachers  and  edu- 


CHILDHOOD  AND   YOUTH.  27 

cators  in  the  Southern  country.  He  was  a  native  of 
Georgia,  but  spent  most  of  his  early  life  in  Philadelphia, 
where  his  grandfather,  Dr.  Henry  Holcombe,  was  pastor; 
he  graduated  in  1838,  at  the  Columbian  College,  in  Wash- 
ington city  (now  Columbian  University)  ;  and  the  next 
year,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  was  residing  in  Charleston,  as 
''clerk''  in  a  bookstore  kept  by  his  uncle,  Mr.  John 
Hoff,  in  Broad  Street.  It  was  a  great  privilege  for  young 
Boyce  to  be  brought  even  for  a  short  time  under  the 
influence  of  that  singularly  acute  and  powerful  mind,  that 
enthusiastic  and  inspiring  instructor.  We  shall  have 
occasion  towards  the  close  of  this  Memoir  to  quote  from 
Dr.  Tucker's  striking  address  at  the  memorial  services 
held  before  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  after  Dr. 
Boyce's  death. 

At  a  somewhat  later  time  Dr.  Brantly  formed  a  Sunday- 
school  class  in  the  Greek  Testament;  and  being  greatly 
burdened  with  duties  as  pastor,  and  professor  in  Charleston 
College,  he  afterwards  turned  over  the  class  to  B.  C.  Press- 
ley,  Esq.,  a  member  of  the  church.  Judge  Pressley  re- 
members as  belonging  to  the  class,  James  P.  Boyce,  H. 
Allen  Tupper,  James  K.  Mendenhall,  and  B.  Furman 
Whilden,  Avho  all  became  ministers.  He  says  that  young 
Boyce  seemed  anxious  to  get  the  exact  meaning  of  the 
Greek,  and  that  he  thought  him  likely  to  become  a  strong 
and  clear  thinker.  When  some  fifteen  years  old,  James  was 
enamoured  of  a  girl  belonging  to  one  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches.  He  went  one  Sunday  morning  to  that  church, 
and  so  placed  himself  in  the  gallery  as  to  command  a  full 
view  of  her  family  pew.  There  came  a  stranger  into  the 
pulpit,  and  preached,  more  than  an  hour,  a  sermon  abound- 
ing in  deep  thought  and  strong  argument.  When  it  was 
over,  the  lad  felt  positively  ashamed  of  himself,  for  he  had 
been  so  busy  listening  as  hardly  to  look  at  his  girl.  The 
preacher  turned  out  to  be  the  great  Dr.  Thornwell,  who 
probably  never  received  a  higher  tribute  to  his  powers. 


28  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

It  is  also  clear  that  the  entranced  hearer  was  no  ordinary 
3'outh. 

From  1843  to  1845,  James  Boyce  was  a  student  at  the 
Charleston  College,  passing  through  the  curriculum  of  the 
Freshman  and  Sophomore  classes.  This  institution  had 
heen  founded  in  1787,  and  though  lacking  sufficient  endow- 
ment to  support  a  large  faculty,  it  had  some  able  teachers. 
Dr.  Brantly,  the  Baptist  pastor,  an  able  and  scholarly  man, 
was  now  president  of  the  college.  One  of  the  professors 
was  Edward  R.  Miles,  a  student  of  Sanskrit  and  learned 
in  various  languages,  wdio  afterw^ards  became  an  Episcopal 
clergyman.  At  college  the  youth  was  increasingly  stu- 
dious ;  but  no  study  suppressed  his  exuberance  of  spirits, 
w^hich  occasionally  overflowed  in  some  ''college  prank," 
never  injurious  to  an}^  one,  and  alwaj^s  regarded  among 
his  comrades  as  venial,  because  clearly  the  result  of  mere 
humor  and  merriment.  Dr.  Brantly  formed  a  high  esti- 
mate of  his  abilities,  but  had  some  misgivings  on  the 
score  of  his  jollity,  w^ith  which  the  grave  and  stern  presi- 
dent could  not  readily  sympathize.  Once  when  engaged 
in  some  practical  joke  on  the  campus,  James  ran  behind 
a  tree  which  was  not  big  enough  to  hide  him,  and  Dr. 
Brantly,  looking  out  of  a  window,  said,  ''There  is  Boyce, 
who  will  be  a  great  man,  if  he  does  not  become  a  devil." 
Yet  he  stood  well  in  every  class,  especially  in  Latin  and 
mathematics,  and  in  history.  And  no  one  was  more  popu- 
lar, in  the  class-room,  in  the  debating  societj^,  or  on  the 
campus.  Several  fellow-students  state  that  James's  utter 
loathing  of  everything  mean,  and  the  brave  and  manly 
stand  he  always  assumed  when  any  principle  was  involved, 
together  with  his  uniform  regard  for  the  feelings  and 
wishes  of  others,  made  him  a  general  favorite  in  the  col- 
lege. At  a  time  w^hen  many  students  w^ere  hostile  to  the 
president,  young  Boyce  stood  up  for  him,  even  wdien  al- 
most alone.  On  one  occasion  he  slapped  a  student  in 
the  face  for  some  reason ;  but  that  evening  waited  for  him 


CHILDHOOD  AND   YOUTH.  29 

and  begged  his  pardon.  James's  ringing  laugh  could  be 
heard  afar,  and  was  contagious.  He  would  sometimes 
purposely  mistranslate  a  Latin  phrase,  and  when  called  to 
account  would  justify  it  by  a  joke,  which  worthy  Dr. 
Hawkesworth,  the  Latin  professor  from  Dublin,  did  not 
always  appreciate.  Among  his  classmates  was  Francis  T. 
Miles,  a  native  of  Charleston,  and  now  a  distinguished 
physician  and  medical  professor  in  Baltimore.  In  a  letter 
of  February,  1889,  to  Dr.  Tu^^per,  he  speaks  concerning 
Boyce  as  follows:  — 

^^It  was  my  good  fortune  during  my  college  career  in  Charles- 
ton to  have  for  a  friend  and  classmate  James  P.  Boyce;  and  al- 
though ever  since  we  have  been  widely  separated  in  life,  I  have 
always  carried  with  me  a  strong  and  affectionate  remembrance  of 
him. 

''  He  was  conspicuous  among  his  class  and  the  students  of  the 
college  by  his  talents  and  the  strong,  rapid  grasp  of  mind,  which 
not  only  enabled  him  to  master  with  ease  the  studios  of  the  cur- 
riculum, but  caused  him  to  push  his  reading,  thought,  and  inquiry 
quite  beyond  the  circle  of  required  recitations.  But  it  is  not  only 
as  the  clear,  original  thinker,  the  quick,  cogent  reasoner,  that  I 
remember  him.  I  recall  him  as  the  genial,  amiable,  affectionate 
companion,  who  was  never  tempted  (how  rare  a  quality  among 
young  men  !)  to  give  pain  or  annoyance  by  a  jest,  nor,  standing 
as  he  did  on  the  high  ground  of  a  very  pure  morality,  to  scorn  or 
animadvert  upon  those  on  an  inferior  level. 

''  I  believe  his  subsequent  life  was  the  bright  day  of  this  clear 
dawn;  and  he  now  rests  from  labors  which  endeared  him  to  those 
who  admired  him." 

In  March,  1845,  the  pastor  and  college  president,  Dr. 
Brantley,  died.  Born  in  North  Carolina  in  1787,  he  was 
graduated  with  distinction  at  the  South  Carolina  College 
in  Columbia,  and  early  became  remarkable  for  his  fine 
classical  culture  and  his  eloquence  as  a  preacher.  His 
pastorates  of  eight  years  at  Beaufort,  S.  C,  of  seven  years 
at  Augusta,  Ga.,  — where  he  founded  the  church,  and  was 


30  MExMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

at  the  same  time  rector  of  an  academy,  —  and  of  eleven 
years  at  the  First  Baptist  Church  in  Philadelphia,  weve 
all  surpassingly  popular  and  successful.  His  health  be- 
ginning to  fail  in  Philadelphia,  he  returned  southward, 
succeeded  Dr.  Manly  in  Charleston  in  1837,  and  soon 
after  became  president  of  Charleston  College.  Such  com- 
bined labors,  though  often  performed  by  eminent  minis- 
ters, are  necessarily  apt  to  be  exhausting.  It  was  a  great 
blessing  for  young  Bojxe,  and  several  others  destined  to 
become  eminent  ministers,  to  attend  upon  the  ministry 
of  this  great  man. 

Dr.  Richard  Fuller  said  of  Brantly  that  'Miis  char- 
acteristics were  grandeur  of  conception,  and  reverence  for 
divine  revelation."  Dr.  Manly  sai'd:  "He  seemed  ever 
to  come  fresh  from  communion  with  his  Saviour,  mellowed 
and  enriched  by  hours  of  prayerful  seclusion.  I  must 
regard  him  as  the  most  uniformly  engaging,  instructive, 
and  inspiring  preacher  that  it  has  ever  been  my  good  for- 
tune to  hear."  Dr.  Sprague  in  his  ''Annals"  says  in 
regard  to  some  of  Brantly's  published  writings:  ''They 
were  read  and  re-read,  and  laid  up  among  the  selectest 
treasures  of  memory."  ^ 

It  was  no  doubt  partly  in  consequence  of  Dr.  Brantly's 
death  that  Mr.  Boyce  determined  at  the  close  of  that  ses- 
sion, which  was  James's  Sophomore  year,  to  send  him  to 
Brown  University.  The  father's  penetrating  insight  into 
character  must  have  already  begun  to  discern  in  the  youth 
of  eighteen  years  no  ordinary  possibilities.  There  was  in 
many  respects  a  striking  resemblance.  James  inherited 
his  father's  large  frame,  fine  head,  and  strong  features; 
also  in  a  remarkable  degree  his  business  talent  and  force 
of  will,  together  with  his  cheerfulness  even  in  times  of 
special  adversity  and  trial.     It  was  Mr.  Boj^ce's  fond  hope 

i  See  H.  A.  Tupper's  volume,  "Two  Centuries  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  in  South  Carolina  (1683-1883)."  Baltimore:  R.  H.  Woodward 
&Co. 


CHILDHOOD   AND   YOUTH.  31 

that  his  son  would  become  an  eminent  lawyer,  perhaps  a 
distinguished  statesman,  and  at  the  same  time  would  con- 
serve and  carry  forward  his  own  great  business  under- 
takings, and  care  for  the  financial  interests  of  his  numerous 
children. 

While  his  son  was  growing  up,  Ker  Boyce  had  lived  a 
very  laborious  life,  for  some  years  adding  political  activities 
to  liis  ever-enlarging  business  engagements.  When  the 
great  Nullification  struggle  began,  in  1830,  we  are  assured 
by  Chief  Justice  O'Neall,  from  personal  knowledge,  tliat 
Mr.  Boyce  was  opposed  to  the  dangerous  experiment;  but 
in  the  political  combinations  that  arose,  and  through  the 
skilful  tactics  of  General  James  Hamilton,  he  was  induced 
to  act  with  the  Nullification  party,  as  practically  the  wisest 
course.  The  Chief  Justice,  who  was  on  the  opposite  side, 
says  that  this  ^^secured  the  triumph  of  Nullification;" 
for  Mr.  Boyce's  many  business  friends,  scattered  all  over 
the  State,  ''took  very  much  his  lead."  He  was  subse- 
quently a  representative  in  the  Legislature  for  the  parish 
of  St.  Philip's  and  St.  Michael's,  and  State  Senator  during 
two  terms  (1840-1848).  When  the  Bank  of  Charleston 
was  started,  Mr.  Boyce  took  a  large  amount  of  the  stock, 
which  he  found  very  profitable ;  and  some  time  afterwards 
was  president  of  the  bank  for  several  years.  This  was  at 
that  time  the  largest  bank  in  the  South,  having  a  capital 
of  three  millions.  S.  Y.  Tupper,  Esq.,  of  Charleston 
(who  died  in  1891),  being  in  Washington  city  in  1840, 
had  a  conversation  with  President  Van  Buren,  in  which 
''the  President  said  he  had  read  Mr.  Boyce's  bank  reports 
with  much  interest  and  instruction,  and  that  they  were  the 
most  able  and  intelligent  papers  on  finance  and  banking 
he  had  ever  read,  and  had  been  of  service  to  him  in  his 
messages  to  Congress."^ 

Mr.  Boyce  was  also  actively  concerned  in  the  leading 

1  Mr.  Tupper  wrote  down  these  words  soon  after  leaving  the  Presi- 
dent, and  gave  them  in  a  letter  of  January  9,  1889. 


32  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES   P.  BOYCE. 

improvements  of  the  city,  such  as  the  erection  of  the 
Charleston  Hotel  and  the  Hayne  Street  buildings;  and 
two  important  wharves  still  bear  his  name.  In  1837  he 
passed  through  a  second  great  commercial  revulsion.  But 
though  popularly  supposed  to  be  much  shaken,  he  had 
learned  from  the  former  experience,  and  was  now  in  no  real 
danger.  He  had  to  pay  out  large  sums  for  his  friends  and 
customers,  but  he  had  habitually  taken  pains  to  become 
liable  for  no  man  who  had  not  more  than  the  corresponding 
amount  of  visible  property.  Many  an  eminent  business 
man  has  from  some  early  experience  of  severe  struggles  and 
losses  —  sometimes  even  temporary  failure  —  acquired  the 
prudence  necessary  to  temper  his  enterprising  spirit,  and 
enable  him  to  steer  safely  through  all  the  financial  storms 
of  subsequent  life.  After  this  period  of  trial  in  1837, 
Mr.  Boyce  retired  from  the  factorage  and  commission  busi- 
ness, and  emploj^ed  his  great  and  increasing  wealth  in  other 
ways.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Graniteville 
Manufacturing  Company,  which  established  near  Aiken, 
S.  C,  the  most  extensive  cotton  factories  in  the  Southern 
States.  This  great  establishment  is  still  prosperous,  and 
stock  in  it  is  still  held  by  some  of  Mr.  Boyce's  heirs.  He 
also  united  with  a  friend  in  establishing  a  wholesale  dry- 
goods  house  in  New  York  city  which  did  a  very  large 
Southern  business,  and  of  which  we  shall  afterwards  hear, 
in  the  course  of  his  son's  history.  Soon  after  the  period 
M^e  have  reached,  he  began  large  investments  in  coal  lands 
around  Chattanooga,  and  a  furnace,  foundry,  etc.,  in  that 
rising  city,  which  were  afterwards  developed  and  made  ex- 
tremely profitable  by  James,  as  his  father's  executor.  Mr. 
Ker  Boyce  never  became  a  church  member,  but  he  was  for 
many  years  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Baptist 
church  to  Avhich  his  wife  belonged,  and  a  generous  finan- 
cial supporter. 


AT  BROWN   UNIVERSITY.  33 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AT    BROWN    UNIVERSITY. 

THE  Baptists  of  South  Carolina  had  from  the  begin- 
ning taken  an  active  interest  in  Brown  University 
(originally  called  Rhode  Island  College),  founded  at 
Providence,  R.  L,  in  1765,  and  generous  contributions 
were  sent  by  them  towards  its  support  and  endowment. 
This  being  the  first  American  college  founded  by  Bap- 
tists, it  awakened  interest  among  the  churches  of  that 
denomination  throughout  the  colonies.  The  movement  for 
its  institution  began  with  the  noble  old  Philadelphia  Asso- 
ciation, and  was  heartily  taken  up  in  Rhode  Island;  and 
it  is  doubtful  whether  anywhere  else  the  zeal  for  it  was 
as  great  as  in  South  Carolina,  where  the  leading  Baptists 
were  already  quite  pronounced  in  favor  of  an  educated 
ministry.  In  fact,  it  was  at  first  a  question  whether  the 
proposed  institution  should  be  placed  in  Rhode  Island  or 
in  South  Carolina;  and  the  former  is  said  to  have  been 
preferred  ^  because  the  principles  of  religious  liberty  which 
Roger  Williams  had  infused  into  that  Colony  made  it  eas}^ 
for  a  Baptist  institution  to  obtain  a  charter,  while  in 
South  Carolina  there  was  a  religious  establishment,  namely, 
of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Among  the  honored  presidents 
of  the  University  had  been  Jonathan  Maxcy,  D.D.,  who 
afterwards  went  South  for  his  health,  and  was  for  sixteen 
years  president  of  the  College  of  South  Carolina  at  Co- 
lumbia, where  his  extraordinary  eloquence  Avas  greatly 
admired  by  such  men  as  Mr.  Petigru  and  Judge  CNeall. 

I  So  Dr,   Boyce  stated  in  an  address  before  the  alumni  of  Brown 
University  in  1871. 

3 


M  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

He  died  there  in  1820,  and  his  tomb  is  conspicuous  on  the 
campus. 

When  young  Boyce  entered  Brown,  in  1845,  the  president 
for  eighteen  years  had  been  Francis  Wayland,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  all  American  educators, 
and  who  made  a  more  potent  impression  ujDon  the  char- 
acter, opinions,  and  usefulness  of  James  Boyce  than  any 
other  person  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  Dr.  Way- 
land's  famous  sermon  on  "  The  JMoral  Dignity  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Enterprise  "  had  been  preached  in  Boston  as  early 
as  1823.  His  ''Elements  of  Moral  Science,"  published 
in  1835,  was  already  widely  used,  and  is  believed  to  have 
become-  the  most  popular  of  all  treatises  on  the  subject  in 
our  language,  including  a  revised  edition  in  1865.  The 
^'  Elements  of  Political  Economy  "  had  appeared  in  1837. 
Erom  the  nature  of  the  subject,  and  the  necessity  of  taking 
sides  upon  some  questions  involving  heated  political  dis- 
cussion, this  treatise  gained  no  phenomenal  circulation, 
but  it  has  been  very  widely  used,  and  regarded  as  a  re- 
markably good  introduction  to  political  economy  as  then 
held  and  taught.  Dr.  Wayland  was  already  giving  a  full 
course  of  original  lectures  on  Intellectual  Philosophy,  but 
his  treatise  on  that  subject  did  not  appear  till  1854.  It 
is  a  notable  epoch  in  the  life  of  many  a  gifted  young 
man  when  he  first  makes  systematic  study  of  psychology 
and  logic,  of  ethics  and  sociology.  This  must  have 
been  in  a  very  high  degree  the  case  with  young  Boyce 
when  studying  these  subjects  under  the  lead  of  a  man  so 
able  in  general,  so  impressive  as  an  instructor,  and  (as  we 
can  now  see)  so  like  in  many  respects  to  the  type  of  char- 
acter and  abilities  which  the  young  man  himself  was  des- 
tined to  develop.  Eor  we  can  perceive  that  each  possessed 
sound  practical  judgment,  combined  with  love  of  abstract 
thinking,  and  intense  but  quiet  religious  fervor;  each 
showed  great  force  of  will  and  personal  dignity,  united 
with   humility,    considerateness,    and  benevolence;    each 


AT   BROWN   UNIVERSITY.  35 

was  eminently  truth-loving  in  studious  inquir}^  and  in 
statement,  promptly  indignant  at  any  exhibition  of  insin- 
cerity or  dishonesty,  and  yet  forbearing,  and  in  all  per- 
sonal matters  ready  to  forgive;  each  was  cheerful  and 
sometimes  merry,  yet  full  of  serious  aims  and  purposes. 
In  style  also,  both  men  were  clear  in  explanation  and 
strong  in  argument,  and  used  excellent  English.  These 
similarities  may  help  to  account  for  the  profound  and  per- 
manent impression  made  by  Dr.  Wayland  upon  this  pupil, 
who  throughout  his  life  delighted  in  every  grateful  ex- 
pression of  obligation,  and  in  supporting  his  own  views  by 
reference  to  any  similar  opinion  of  the  great  college  presi- 
dent. And  if  this  instance  was  conspicuous,  it  was  far 
from  being  singular;  for  no  pupil  of  Dr.  Wayland  can 
have  failed  to  receive  benefit,  and  very  many,  including 
men  of  great  distinction  in  various  callings,  have  ac- 
counted their  contact  with  him  as  the  highest  educational 
privilege  of  their  life.  Mr.  Boyce  adopted,  when  he  be- 
came a  teacher  of  theology.  President  Wayland's  method 
of  analytical  recitations,  without  questioning;  and  some 
other  pupils,  probably  many  others,  have  done  likewise. 
Hon.  C.  S.  Bradley,  Chief  Justice  of  Ehode  Island,  stated 
to  the  writer  some  years  ago  that  the  alumni  of  Brown 
were  proud  of  the  very  large  proportion  of  eminent  law- 
yers included  in  their  number;  and  he  believed  it  to  result 
from  Wayland's  method  of  teaching,  since  the  main  thing 
for  a  lawyer  is  the  power  of  making  a  clear  and  complete 
analysis  of  the  case. 

Dr.  Wayland's  studious  fairness  and  moderation  in 
argument  had  just  been  strikingly  exhibited  in  a  newspa- 
per discussion  with  Dr.  Richard  Fuller,  then  of  Beaufort, 
S.  C.  (afterwards  of  Baltimore),  on  *' Domestic  Slaver^^  con- 
sidered as  a  Scriptural  Institution.''  The  articles  on  both 
sides  were  afterwards  published  in  a  volume.  The  sympa- 
thizers with  each  of  the  disputants  generally  considered 
their  champion  to  have  had  the  best  of  the  argument;  but 


36  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES   P.  BOYCE. 

it  was  universally  agreed  that  both  conducted  the  discus- 
sion in  a  good  Christian  spirit  and  with  good  taste.  This 
was  notable,  for  it  was  a  day  of  grievous  political  bitter- 
ness, and  the  controversy  as  to  slavery  was  swelling  higher 
and  higher  towards  the  terrific  outburst  of  fifteen  years 
later. 

Among  the  other  professors  during  Boyce's  two  years 
at  Brown  University  were  several  men  of  marked  ability 
and  distinction.  Dr.  Alexis  Caswell,  Professor  of  Math- 
ematics and  Natural  Philosoph}^,  was  an  able  and  ear- 
nest teacher,  an  agreeable  preacher,  and  remarkable 
for  his  courtesy  as  a  gentleman,  and  the  strong  hold 
he  took  upon  the  respect  and  affection  of  young  men. 
William  Gammell,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  English 
Literature,  was  a  man  of  fine  literary  taste,  and  the  au- 
thor of  some  w^ell-written  books.  John  L.  Lincoln,  son 
of  the  famous  Boston  publisher,  had  just  become  Professor 
of  the  Latin  Language  and  Literature,  after  a  course  at 
Brown  and  Newton,  and  several  years  as  a  student  in  Ger- 
many, and  was  already  a  j^leasing  and  inspiring  teacher; 
he  afterwards  published  very  good  and  poj^ular  editions  of 
Livy  and  Horace.  James  R.  Boise  had  also  recently  be- 
come full  Professor  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature, 
which  he  has  ever  since  continued  to  teach,  in  various 
institutions,  with  uncommon  exactness  of  scholarship 
and  skill  as  an  instructor,  and  with  the  high  respect 
of  all  who  know  him.  He  is  now  Emeritus  Professor  of 
New  Testament  Interpretation  in  the  Divinity  School 
of  Chicago  University;  besides  ''Exercises  in  Greek 
Composition  "  and  other  text-books  for  school  and  col- 
lege, he  has  published  several  small  and  excellent  volumes 
explaining  the  Greek  text  of  certain  Epistles  of  Paul. 

The  Junior  class  of  1845-1846,  which  James  P.  Boyce 
entered,  contained  thirty-five  men.  Several  of  these  must 
be  here  mentioned;  and  there  are  doubtless  others  whose 
names  would  attract  the  attention  of  persons  more  thor- 


AT  BROWN  UNIVERSITY.  37 

oughly  acquainted  with  New  England  and  the  Northwest. 
Frederic  Denison  became  a  Baptist  minister,  pastor  of  sev- 
eral churches  in  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  and  chap- 
lain in  the  Union  Army  for  three  years,  and  has  published 
a  large  number  of  pleasing  and  popular  works.  George 
Park  Fisher  afterwards  studied  theology  at  Yale  and  An- 
dover  and  in  Germany,  and  is  the  well-known  Professor  of 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  the  Yale  Divinity  School.  Be- 
sides numerous  elaborate  articles  in  the  reviews,  he  has 
published  quite  a  number  of  valuable  books,  including 
"The  Beginnings  of  Christianity,"  ''History  of  the 
Peformation, "  ''Outlines  of  Universal  History,"  "Faith 
and  Rationalism,"  "The  Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Chris- 
tian Belief,''  and  "History  of  the  Christian  Church.'^ 
Reuben  Aldridge  Guild  has  spent  his  life  as  librarian  of 
Brown  University,  becoming  one  of  the  eminent  librarians 
of  the  country.  He  has  produced  several  books  of  great 
interest,  including  a  life  of  James  Manning  (the  first 
president  of  the  university),  a  Biographical  Introduction 
to  the  Writings  of  Roger  Williams,  a  History  of  Brown 
University,  and  "Chaplain  Smith  and  the  Baptists." 
He  and  Boyce  formed  a  special  friendship,  which  was 
maintained  with  ever-increasing  cordiality  through  all 
the  years.  Whenever  Dr.  Boyce  was  able  to  attend 
annual  meetings  of  his  class  he  was  the  guest  of  Dr. 
Guild;  and  a  visit  of  the  latter  to  Boyce  in  Louisville  is 
remembered  by  many  with  special  interest.  John  Hill 
Luther  graduated  at  Newton  in  1850,  and  has  ever  since 
lived  in  the  South,  as  teacher  and  Baptist  minister,  —  in 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  in  Missouri  and  Texas.  He 
edited  the  "Central  Baptist"  of  St.  Louis  for  ten  years, 
was  long  president  of  Baylor  Female  College  at  Belton, 
Texas,  and  is  now  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "Baptist 
Standard,"  Waco.  He  delivered  an  address  at  a  memorial 
meeting  after  Dr.  Boyce's  death.  Amos  Fletcher  Spaul- 
ding   was    afterwards    graduated    at    Newton,    and   spent 


38  MEMOIR  OF   JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

his  life  as  a  Baptist  pastor  in  Canada  and  New  England, 
much  respected  and  beloved.  Ambrose  P.  S.  Stuart  be- 
came a  distinguished  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  New- 
England  and  Illinois,  afterwards  residing  in  Nebraska. 
Benjamin  Thomas  went  to  Burmah  as  a  missionarj-,  and 
has  been  called  ''the  Apostle  to  the  Karens."  From  a 
class  report  forty  years  after  their  graduation  it  appears 
that  thirteen  of  the  class  became  ministers,  eight  lawj^ers, 
and  five  presidents  or  professors,  and  four  are  set  down 
as  poets. 

According  to  the  class  system,  which  at  that  time  was 
rigorously  observed,  a  student  had  but  little  association 
with  members  of  other  classes  than  his  own.  But  it 
ought  to  be  mentioned  that  among  the  Seniors  of  Boj^ce's 
Junior  year  were  Samuel  Sullivan  Cox,  —  the  celebrated 
''Sunset  Cox,"  —  and  Francis  Wayland,  Jr.,  now  the  dis- 
tinguished Professor  of  Law  in  Yale  University.  Among 
the  Sophomores  of  that  year  were  James  Kirk  Menden- 
hall,  of  Charleston,  who  was  a  friend  of  Boyce  from  boy- 
hood, was  afterwards  with  him  at  Princeton,  and  has 
been  very  useful  as  a  Baptist  minister  in  South  Caro- 
lina; James  Wheaton  Smith,  who  graduated  at  Newton, 
and  was  long  an  eminent  Baptist  pastor  in  Philadel- 
phia; and  Adin  B.  Underwood,  who  was  Boyce's  room- 
mate, and  an  earnest  Christian,  who  became  a  prominent 
lawyer  and  a  brigadier-general  in  the  Union  army;  and 
the  two  had  a  jo^-ful  reunion  at  Providence  some  years 
after  the  war.  The  Freshman  class  of  that  year  included 
James  Burrell  Angell,  now  president  of  the  University 
of  Michigan,  and  Heman  Lincoln  AVayland,  now  editor 
of  the  "National  Baptist; ''  and  in  the  Freshman  class  of 
Boyce's  senior  year  was  George  Dana  Boardman,  now 
Baptist  pastor  in  Philadelphia. 

In  May,  1845,  James  P.  Boyce  had  been  present  at  the 
Baptist  Convention  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  which  formed  the 
Southern    Baptist    Convention,  —  though    he    was    not    a 


AT  BROWN  UNIVERSITY.  39 

member  of  that  body,  being  not  yet  a  church-member. 
But  although  a  division  then  took  place  between  Northern 
and  Southern  Baptists  as  to  their  missionary  work,  those 
of  the  South  felt,  and  have  always  continued  to  feel,  a 
deep  interest  in  the  work  of  their  Northern  brethren,  and 
especially  in  Adoniram  Judson.  So  it  cannot  have  failed 
to  impress  the  young  student  when,  in  November,  1845, 
Judson  came  to  Brown  University,  of  which  he  was  an 
honored  graduate,  and  remained  some  time  as  a  guest  of 
Dr.  Wayland.  Some  persons  of  like  age  remember  to 
have  been  profoundly  impressed  bj^  even  the  reports  of 
persons  present  at  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  in 
Eichmond  the  following  spring,  who  saw  the  great  mis- 
sionary^, and  could  repeat  the  few  words  he  was  strong 
enough  to  speak. 

Concerning  Boyce^s  life  as  a  student  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity, the  testimony  on  all  hands  is  that  he  did  his  work 
thoroughly  and  well.  Take,  for  example,  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  of  James  R.  Boise,  the  Professor  of 
Greek,  written  in  February,  1889 :  — 

"  He  was  a  pupil  of  mine  in  his  college  course,  and  I  have  a 
very  distinct  recollection  of  him  as  he  appeared  in  the  class-room. 
He  was  always  attentive,  scholarly,  and  a  perfect  gentleman. 
He  was  one  of  that  type  of  students  whom  a  teacher  does  not 
soon  forget.  Though  more  than  forty  years  have  elapsed  since 
that  time,  and  though  I  have  had  classes,  often  very  large, 
through  the  entire  intervening  period  (excepting  a  year  and  a 
half  spent  in  Europe),  yet  there  is  no  one  of  the  many  who  have 
been  in  my  class-room  whom  I  have  loved  and  respected  more 
than  James  P.  Boyce." 

We  begin  now  to  find  letters  from  the  young  student  to 
his  friend  and  future  brother-in-law,  H.  A.  Tupper,  of 
Charleston.  They  are  at  first  chiefly  occupied  with  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  their  young  friends  in  that  city,  and 
the  experiences  of  a  beginner  at   Brown,    together  with 


40  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

plenty  of  the  gay  badinage  which  is  natural  in  the  inter- 
course of  young  fellows  at  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Boyce  had  excelled  in  mathe- 
matics during  his  Charleston  studies,  but  here  he  found 
that  this  branch  was  completed  within  the  Sophomore  year. 
His  father  urged  him  to  enter  Junior,  if  possible, —  wishing 
him  to  begin  promptly  the  study  of  law;  but  he  had  done 
nothing  in  analytical  geometry,  and  a  letter  tells  of  the 
severe  and  desperate  exertions  he  made  to  work  up  this 
subject  in  time  for  the  entrance  examination,  sometimes 
tempted  to  give  it  up  as  too  difficult  a  task,  but  finally 
knowing  every  proposition  Professor  Caswell  called  for.  A 
month  after  the  session  began,  we  meet  something  of  a  new 
student's  usual  summary  and  sharp  judgment  of  one  or 
another  professor.  Some  young  man  had  said  in  Charles- 
ton that  the  students  at  Brown  were  not  gentlemen ;  but 
Boj^ce  finds  it  far  otherwise.  ''There  are  some  as  noble- 
hearted  fellows  here  as  jom  would  find  anywhere ;  onl}^  one 
or  two  in  college  with  whom  I  would  not  wish  to  associate, 
and  these  are  gentlemen's  sons,  though  not  themselves 
what  I  call  gentlemen."  This  favorable  judgment  came 
from  one  who  through  life  was  extremely''  sensitive  to 
every  point  of  propriety  and  honor.  In  another  letter  he 
says  it  was  reported  that  to  a  student  who  had  greatly 
misbehaved,  Dr.  Wayland  said,  ''My  son,  go  home;  and  if 
you  can  make  anything  of  yourself,  do  try  and  do  so." 
Boyce  thought  this  a  fine  combination  of  paternal  kindness 
and  strict  discipline. 

Catalogues  show  that  at  this  period  the  Junior  class 
studied  Physics,  Chemistry,  and  Physiology,  something  in 
Greek  and  Latin  poetry.  Modern  Languages  (in  Boyce's 
case  the  French,  which  he  acquired  in  a  very  short  time, 
and  through  life  read  with  great  ease).  Logic  (which 
brought  him  in  contact  with  President  Wayland),  and 
Modern  History,  in  Smythe's  Lectures, —  a  book  to  which 
he  not  unfrequently  referred  in  after  life.      Our  student 


AT  BROWN  UNIVERSITY.  41 

soon  begins  to  glorify  his  literary  society,  the  United 
Brothers,  which  has  most  of  the  Southern  students,  and  in 
general  the  best  men  of  the  University,  admitting  a  few 
exceptions.  Didn't  we  all  talk  so,  especially  during  the 
first  session,  about  ^'our  society"?  He  supposes  his 
friend  has  '^  heard  of  the  secret  societies  which  are  gen- 
erally attached  to  the  Northern  colleges;  "  and  mentions 
in  confidence  that  he  has  just  been  initiated  into  one  of 
them,  the  Delta  Phi.  He  thinks  these  societies  are  some- 
thing similar  to  the  Odd  Fellows  and  Masons,  though 
held  for  different  purposes.  It  is  believed  that  the  col- 
lege secret  societies  were  at  that  time  just  beginning  their 
somewhat  checkered  career.  In  one  letter  he  gives  some 
account  of  the  Senior  speaking,  saying  that  S.  S.  Cox  was 
the  best,  having  "  in  reality  a  splendid  piece.  He  is  by  far 
the  best  writer  of  his  class.  His  speech  was  well  written, 
well  delivered,  and  was  filled  with  some  of  the  most 
splendid  imagery."  One  can't  help  wondering  whether 
already  the  imagery  included  a  gorgeous  '' sunset,"  such 
as  afterwards  gave  to  the  admired  statesman  his  familiar 
sobriquet. 

College  students  are  not  at  the  time  fully  aware  to  what 
an  extent  they  are  influencing  each  other,  intellectually 
and  morally.  Yet  every  one  who  looks  thoughtfully  back 
upon  his  own  life  when  prolonged,  and  around  upon  cur- 
rent and  recorded  examples,  will  be  likely  to  perceive  that 
a  3^oung  man's  fellow-students  are  hardly  less  important  to 
him  than  his  instructors.  Even  the  memory  and  fame  of 
those  who  studied  there  in  other  days,  and  have  since 
achieved  something  honorable  in  the  world,  becomes  to 
susceptible  young  minds  a  powerful  incentive.  There  is 
thus  great  advantage  in  attending  an  institution  which 
has  a  large  number  of  students,  gathered  from  far  and 
wide,  and  possesses  an  inspiring  list  of  distinguished 
alumni. 

The  glimpses  we  catch  of  James  Boyce  in  his  association 


42  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

with  fellow-students  at  Brown,  reveal  the  same  character 
and  disposition  we  have  heretofore  observed.  Dr.  J.  H. 
Luther,  in  an  address  after  Boyce's  death,  speaks  as 
follows :  — 

'^  Little  did  we  once  think  that  the  central  figure  of  a  group 
that  nightly  met  in  a  Madl-furuished  room  in  University  Hall 
would  be  chosen  of  God  to  be  a  leader  in  theological  thought, 
and  the  founder  of  a  school  of  the  prophets.  That  group  was 
composed  of  noble  spirits,  —  Stoddard,  EUis,  Robert,  Garusey, — 
not  one  then  a  professor  of  religion;  but  they  were  all  true  gen- 
tlemen. A  happier  set  of  fellows  I  have  never  met  since.  They 
enjoyed  the  good  will  of  their  professors,  and  the  respect  of  the 
entire  class.  But  '  Jim  '  was  the  leading  spirit.  There  was  a 
magnetism  in  his  humor,  a  nobility  in  his  presence,  and  a 
manly  expression  in  his  language,  which  made  him  attractive 
to  all.  Blessed  with  a  generous  allowance  from  his  father,  he 
took  a  lively  pleasure  in  helping  a  poor  student  to  bridge  over 
a  crisis  in  his  college  course ;  and  when  he  had  once  made  a  gift, 
he  would  never  suffer  the  recipient  to  return  it." 

It  is  remembered  that  at  the  end  of  a  session,  when 
James  submitted  a  statement  of  the  year's  expenditures, 
his  father  expressed  some  surprise  at  the  gift  of  a  large 
sum  to  a  fellow-student,  and  was  evidently  inclined  to  dis- 
approve. But  one  of  his  daughters  said,  "You  know. 
Father,  that  if  James  had  spent  it  in  buying  a  horse  or  the 
like,  you  would  not  have  objected.''  And  so  the  matter 
was  dropped. 

At  the  approach  of  Christmas  vacation,  Boyce  was  sent 
as  ambassador  to  Dr.  Wayland,  and  obtained  leave  for  the 
Southern  students,  who  could  not  go  home,  to  continue  oc- 
cupying their  rooms,  and  get  their  meals  down  town.  He 
had  thought  of  going  to  Boston;  but  it  was  "  so  tremen- 
dously cold  that  were  I  in  Boston  I  hardly  believe  I  'd 
budge  a  foot  from  my  lodgings."  Students  from  the  far 
South  of  course  felt  the  difference  of  climate. 

In  March,  1846,  he  lets  his  correspondent  know  that  he 


AT  BROWN  UNIVERSITY.  43 

has  been  chosen  to  take  part  in  the  Junior  speaking,  by  an 
amusing  extravagance  of  complaint  as  to  a  professor's  cor- 
rections of  his  address:  ''Confound  it  all,  here  have  I 
been  called  away  just  at  this  moment  by  the  old  prof., 
to  examine  my  exhibition  piece ;  and  as  a  matter  of  course 
have  more  work  to  do.  But  wait,  I  will  tell  you  when  I 
come  back.  ...  As  I  thought,  more  corrections,  dubita- 
tions,  and  scratchations  (if  I  may  manufacture  a  word), 
than  I  would  have  thought  it  possible  for  one  man  to  make 
in  a  year,  and  he  has  had  it  but  a  day  and  a  half.  Alas, 
alas,  wretched  being  that  I  am  !  These  confounded  profs, 
are  the  hardest  to  please.  If  you  don't  curse,  they  tell 
you  your  piece  is  too  tame;  if  you  do,  they  tell  you  it  is 
profane.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  tell  what  they  do 
want.  Now,  here  I  have  one  half  my  piece  to  write  over, 
and  the  whole  to  copy  over,  just  for  those  inquisitive 
women  w^ho  must  be  coming  up  here  to  see  us  make 
fools  of  ourselves.  Oh,  how  I  wish  they  were  all  sunk 
in  the  bottom  of  the  sea!"  He  is  evidently  proud  of 
the  distinction,  and  extremely  anxious  to  please  both 
the  professors  and  the  rather  dreaded  audience  from  the 
city.  The  little  outburst  reveals  a  lively  and  exuberant 
nature. 

We  come  now  to  a  highly  important  event  in  James  P. 
Boyce's  life, —  his  conversion  to  Christ.  It  is  known  that 
Dr.  Wayland  earnestly  longed  and  labored  for  the  conver- 
sion of  all  his  students,  and  often  greatly  impressed  them 
by  private  conversations  as  well  as  public  addresses  and 
sermons.  In  this  he  was  seconded  by  other  professors  and 
by  devout  students.  The  class  to  which  Boyce  belonged 
contained  up  to  its  Junior  year  many  who  were  not  Chris- 
tians. In  1889  Dr.  R.  A.  Guild,  the  librarian,  published 
in  the  ''Watchman"  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "Revi- 
vals in  Brown  University,"  from  one  of  which  we  extract. 
It  is  stated  that  many  students  below  the  Senior  Class  of 
1846  were  not  professors  of  religion. 


44  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

''This  was  a  source  of  anxiety  to  Dr.  Wayland,  who  in  his 
familiar  talks  to  us  frequently  alluded  to  the  subject,  and  urged 
upon  Christians  the  importance  of  earnest  prayer  and  special 
effort  in  behalf  of  the  impenitent.  Meetings  for  prayer  and  con- 
ference were  for  a  time  held  every  evening,  and  there  were  several 
conversions.  In  September,  1845,  James  Petigru  Boyce,  whose 
recent  death  is  so  deeply  deplored,  especially  throughout  the 
South,  entered  the  class  as  a  student  from  Charleston  College. 
He  was  a  fine  scholar,  very  popular  in  his  ways,  and  the  heir-pre- 
sumptive to  large  wealth,  his  father  being  the  richest  man  in 
Charleston.  His  classmates  at  once  became  deeply  interested  in 
his  spiritual  welfare,  and  made  him  a  subject  of  special  prayer, 
that  his  wealth  and  gifts  and  graces  might  all  be  consecrated  to 
the  Master's  use.  Several  of  the  class  who  were  thus  interested 
had  '  power  in  prayer.'  I  might  mention  one  especially,  whom, 
on  account  of  his  piety,  we  named  '  St.  James,'  and  another, 
the  sainted  Thomas,  whom  we  know  now  in  missionary  history 
as  the  Apostle  to  the  Karens. 

''The  usual  college  fast  for  the  last  Thursday  in  February 
was  a  day  of  great  solemnity,  and  was  attended  by  the.  students 
generally,  including  Boyce,  who  appeared  to  be  deeply  interested. 
The  meeting  in  the  morning  was  ccmducted  by  Dr.  Wayland,  who 
made  the  opening  prayer.  He  was  followed  by  Dr.  Caswell,  who 
spoke  upon  the  necessity  of  religion  in  college,  and  dwelt  upon 
the  influence  exerted  by  pious  students.  Professor  Gammell  en- 
larged upon  the  importance  of  cultivating  our  spiritual  natures  as 
well  as  improving  our  intellectual  faculties.  In  the  afternoon, 
Dr.  Wayland  preached  an  eloquent  and  practical  discourse,  ad- 
dressed mainly  to  the  impenitent.  Shortly  after  this  occurred 
the  spring  vacation  for  1846." 

James  K.  Mendenhall  tells  that  he  and  Boyce  went  at 
that  time  by  steamer  from  New  York  to  Charleston.  The 
voyage  was  in  a  rather  small  sailing-vessel,  and  extremely 
protracted.  He  noticed  that  Boyce  kept  his  state-room  a 
great  deal,  and  supposed  he  was  reading  a  novel  or  the 
like;  but  at  length  found  that  he  was  reading  the  Bible. 
They  had  then  much  talk  together,  and  before  arriving  at 
Charleston  he  was  deeply  under  conviction  of  sin.     We 


AT  BKOWN  UNIVERSITY.  45 

learn  incidentally  from  a  subsequent  letter  that  some  two 
years  before  this  he  had  been  a  good  deal  moved,  but  the 
feeling  had  passed  away.  On  reaching  the  city  they  were 
met  by  the  news  that  their  friend  H.  A.  Tupper  had  just 
been  received  into  the  church,  and  that  one  of  Boyce's 
sisters  was  deeply  concerned.  That  wonderful  preacher, 
Dr.  Richard  Fuller,  had  come  from  Beaufort,  and  was 
preaching  every  da}^,  and  a  mighty  religious  movement 
was  pervading  the  community.  The  appeals  of  Allen 
Tupper  to  James  and  his  sister  deepened  his  impressions. 
This  sister,  on  the  occasion  of  Dr.  Boyce's  funeral,  recalled 
an  expression  used  at  the  time  in  regard  to  her  brother, 
which  shows  his  high  reputation  for  moralit}'',  and  her 
imperfect  conception  at  that  time  of  the  nature  of  the 
Gospel.  She  said,  *'But  James  has  not  been  so  bad  as 
the  rest  of  us."  He,  however,  felt  himself  a  ruined  sin- 
ner, and,  like  the  rest,  had  to  look  to  the  merits  of  Christ 
alone  for  salvation.  On  the  22d  of  April  he  was  bap- 
tized, Dr.  Fuller's  meetings  being  still  in  progress.  The 
Charleston  pastor  at  this  time  (1845-1847)  was  N.  M. 
Crawford,  from  Georgia,  who  afterwards  became  quite  dis- 
tinguished as  a  college  professor  and  president.  Let  us 
pause  to  notice  that  young  James  Boyce  had  thus,  by  the 
age  of  nineteen,  been  brought  under  the  special  influence 
of  six  of  the  most  notable  Baptist  ministers  in  America,  — 
Manly  andBrantly,  Tucker,  Wayland,  Crawford,  andFuller. 
Writing  from  Brown  University  on  May  15,  Mr.  Boyce 
speaks  with  great  interest  of  the  previous  Sunday,  which 
he  and  Mendenhall  spent  in  Philadelphia  on  their  way 
back.  They  attended  in  the  morning  Dr.  Ide's  church, 
and  heard  from  some  visiting  minister  "a  most  excellent 
sermon,"  which  is  reported  at  considerable  length.  At 
the  afternoon  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  — 

''We  spent  a  delightfully  solemn  hour  in  commemorating  the 
death  of  our  Redeemer.  It  seemed  so  delightful  thus  among 
strangers  to  join  in  recalling  that  event  which  makes  us  brothers 


4:6  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

and  sisters.  As  I  looked  around  I  was  almost  ready  to  go  up  and 
speak  with  those  around  me  as  to  our  hopes  of  meeting  in  heaven. 
I  am  sorry  now  that  I  did  not ;  I  think  it  would  have  been  better 
for  me  if  I  had  done  so." 

The  letter  continues  :  — 

'^  There  has  been  no  revival  here.  The  work  has  been  going 
on  among  a  great  number  of  the  colleges,  but  we  have  none  here. 
Pray  for  us,  Allen,  pray  for  us ;  pray  that  God  may  shower  down 
his  Spirit  among  us,  and  bring  sinners  to  repentance.  There  is  a 
strong  feeling  among  those  of  the  college  who  have  professed 
Christ,  and  they  I  believe  are  praying  earnestly  for  a  revival. 
But  what  though  we  pray  forever,  and  use  no  means  of  exhorta- 
tion, can  we  expect  our  prayers  to  be  answered  f  Surely  not ;  and 
yet  that  is  just  our  case.  .  .  .  The  members  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  are  interested  for  us.  They  have  a  prayer-meeting  every 
morning  from  eight  to  half-past  eight  o'clock,  and  at  two  o'clock 
on  Sundays ;  and  while  praying  for  the  youth  of  the  church  they 
are  also  kind  enough  to  remember  us,  and  to  offer  up  prayers  for 
a  revival  here.  I  hope  their  prayers  may  be  answered ;  I  am  sure 
they  are  needed." 

The  letter  concludes  with  loving  messages  and  exhorta- 
tions to  the  recent  converts  in  Charleston. 

With  this  letter  accords  the  further  narrative  of  Dr. 
Guild:  "He  returned  to  college  a  changed  man.  He 
at  once  joined  the  religious  society,  and  with  characteristic 
energy  and  zeal  engaged  in  efforts  to  promote  a  revival,  of 
which  his  conversion  may  be  regarded  as  the  beginning." 
His  subsequent  letters  show  similar  fervor  and  zeal.  He 
proposes  to  join  by  letter  the  First  Church,  and  begins  to 
teach  a  class  in  the  Sunday-school.  He  is  glad  to  hear 
that  his  correspondent  has  decided  to  be  a  minister.  He 
speaks  with  much  interest  of  some  devotional  tracts  and 
books  he  has  been  reading,  and  of  the  Foreign  Mission 
Journal  just  started  by  the  F.  M.  Board  of  the  Southern 
Baptist  Convention  at  Eichmond.  He  tells  of  a  serious 
fellow-student,   reared  under  Unitarian   influences,  whom 


AT  BROWN  UNIVERSITY.  47 

by  prayerful  effort  he  has  convinced  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  and  the  need  of  atonement.  An  address  was  given 
at  Brown  just  before  the  close  of  the  session  by  J.  L. 
Shuck,  a  missionary  to  China,  —  now  connected  with  the 
Southern  Board,  —  and  made  quite  an  impression. 

*'  Those  who  are  accustomed  to  call  all  nations  barbarian  and 
ignorant  except  some  two  or  three,  Mr.  Shuck's  remarks  must 
astonish.  To  those  also  who  put  education  before  Christianity  as 
a  means  of  civilization,  what  a  lesson  must  his  account  furnish ! 
To  think  that  a  nation  should  be  so  literary,  should  have  ad- 
vanced so  far  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  yet  present  such  a 
picture  of  degradati(jn  in  morals  !  .  .  .  I  only  wish  there  were 
more  to  go  to  carry  the  news  of  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the  world. 
I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  of  the  efforts  being  made  in  Charleston  for 
the  cause  of  missions." 

In  the  summer  vacation  (1846)  he  made  a  long  trip 
for  recreation  and  improvement.  The  letters  speak  with 
enthusiasm  of  the  Catskill  Mountains  and  of  Niagara, 
From  Montreal  he  returned  by  Lake  Champlain  and  the 
Hudson  steamer.  Before  railways  made  us  so  eager  for 
speed,  the  great  river-steamers  probably  afforded  the  most 
delightful  mode  of  travel  ever  known  on  earth. 

Mr.  Boyce's  Senior  year  (1846-1847)  demanded  closer 
work  than  he  had  ever  before  known.  The  Senior  class  gave 
some  time  to  Plato,  and  studied  astronomy  and  geology, 
continuing  also  the  modern  history,  but  devoted  its  prin- 
cipal attention  to  intellectual  and  moral  philosophy,  with 
Christian  Evidences  and  Butler's  "  Analogy,"  and  to  rhetoric 
and  political  economy,  and  the  American  Constitution. 
In  this  year  he  was  brought  constantly  in  contact  with  Dr. 
Wayland,  and  received  from  him  those  lasting  and  power- 
ful impressions  which  have  been  already  mentioned. 
With  subjects  so  congenial  and  a  teacher  of  such  power  he 
was  stimulated  to  great  exertions.  He  also  took  a  very 
large  share  in  the  religious  interest  which  had  come  over 


4R  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

from  the  former  session,  and  was  now  deepening.  He 
taught  a  Sunday-school  class  with  regularity,  and  found 
time  for  a  good  deal  of  devotional  reading,  as  appears  from 
the  books  recommended  in  his  letters. 

Besides  the  correspondence  with  Mr.  Tupper,  he  cor- 
responded with  Miss  Mendenhall,  of  Charleston  (now  Mrs. 
Scott),  a  friend  of  the  family,  and  whose  brother  James 
was  his  fellow-student  and  room-mate ;  and  he  was  of  course 
much  interested  in  the  accounts  she  gave  of  all  that  was 
going  on  in  the  city  he  loved  so  well.  One  of  his  letters 
has  been  preserved,  written  Dec.  11,  1846,  when  James 
Mendenhall  had  returned  home  for  a  time  on  account  of 
some  trouble  with  his  eyes.  She  had  informed  Boyce  of  a 
visit  to  Charleston  by  two  3'oung  ladies.  So  he  overflows 
with  gratitude  at  the  outset :  — 

'^I  can  hardly  express  the  pleasure  I  experienced  at  receiving 
your  letter.  The  fondest  li()})es  I  had  dared  to  entertain  were  that 
Jimmy  would  now  and  then  favor  me  with  a  paper.  But  when 
in  the  place  of  a  paper  there  comes  a  letter  full  of  news,  and  every- 
thing pleasing,  you  cannot  imagine  my  pleasure.     You  write  me 

that is  in  Charleston,  and  also .     This  is  news ;  I  had  not 

heard  of  it  before.  Pray  remember  me  to  my  old  sweetheart,  and 
tell  her  I  regret  that  T  am  not  now  at  home,  that  I  might  do  the 

honors  of  the  house.     I  suppose is  as  lively  as  ever.     I  often 

look  back  upon  the  pleasant  days  I  have  spent  in  her  company, — 
days  which  will  never  be  forgotten  so  long  as  I  have  the  power  of 
memory,  or  of  experiencing  pleasure  in  the  events  it  brings  to 

n)ind.     Do  remember  me  to ;  tell  her  I  often  think  of  her, 

and  that  it  is  by  no  means  seldom  that  my  prayers  ascend  to  God 
for  his  blessings  upon  her  and  hers." 

He  then  sends  an  imploring  and  vehement  entreaty  that 
she  will  use  all  possible  influence  for  the  salvation  of  one 
of  his  near  relatives,  and  ends  the  paragraph  by  saying: 

''  Dear ,  God  bless  her  !     She  has  ever  reminded  me  of  my 

mother.  May  she  be  as  faithful  a  Christian,  and  be  preserved  to 
eternity ! 


AT  BROWN   UNIVERSITY.  49 

''  Another  term  has  closed,  and  the  Senior  class  now  rest  upon 
their  well-earned  laurels.  Not  a  single  man  has  been  unsustained 
in  a  single  study.  During  the  whole  of  yesterday  a  blaze  of 
glory  surrounded  as  with  a  halo  the  members  of  our  venerable 
class.  Symptoms  of  gratification  ever  and  anon  bnjke  forth  from 
the  examining  committee  and  strangers  present  while  we  pro- 
ceeded in  stately  dignity  to  enlighten  their  ideas,  and  teach  their 
withering  minds  to  blossom  with  new  vigor.  Tell  Jimmy,  would 
for  his  sake  I  could  say  the  same  for  the  Juniors !  With  their 
usual  luck,  they  came  out  with  two  unsustained,  both  in  rhetoric. 
All  the  Sophs  and  all  the  Freshmen  were  sustained. 

"  The  students  are  mostly  all  gone.  A  few  of  us  retain  our 
rooms  during  the  vacation.  This  morning  I  laid  out  as  the  busi- 
ness of  the  day  the  mending  of  my  carpet^  (no  small  job,  I  assure 
you,  and  so  can  Jimmy)  and  the  writing  of  two  letters,  —  this 
for  the  morning,  and  the  arranging  of  my  books  for  the  afternoon. 
All  this,  I  am  happy  to  say,  will  be  accomplished.  Tell  Jimmy 
that  I  am  going  to  board  at  the  eating-houses.  However,  to-day 
we  will  have  a  private  dinner,  —  that  is,  Mabbitt  and  I  will  ; 
Mabbitt  is  cook,  and  I  am  to  help  him  eat. 

"  We  had  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  last  night,  and  the  snow  now 
lies  some  ten  or  twelve  inches  deep.  This  afternoon  and  to-mor- 
row we  shall  have  fine  sleighing.  Don't  you  wish  you  were 
here? 

"  I  expect  to  study  pretty  hard  this  vacation.  I  have  laid  out 
about  three  or  four  thousand  pages  to  read.  First  there  is  Plato ; 
then  Mill's  Logic ;   then  the  Eepublic  of  Letters  ;  while  on  the 

1  His  skill  with  the  needle  was  well  known  to  his  friends.  When 
a  small  boy  he  went  to  a  dame's  school  and  learned  to  sew,  becoming  soon 
so  proficient  as  to  make  a  complete  outfit  for  liis  little  sister's  doll.  In 
after  years  he  would  tell  his  children  of  this  with  great  glee,  explaining 
that  he  made  "  leg  of  mutton  "  sleeves  for  the  doll  in  imitation  of  what 
he  saw  worn  by  the  young  ladies.  Once,  when  he  was  President  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention,  a  brother  had  the  misfortune  to  tear  his 
pantaloons;  and  various  gentlemen,  dropping  in  at  the  President's  room 
in  the  hotel,  were  much  amused  to  find  him  mending  the  rent.  The 
owner  —  whose  name  has  not  been  kept  in  memory  —  differed  with  Dr. 
Boyce  on  some  theological  points*;  and  upon  warmly  thanking  him, 

received  the   good-humored  reply,    *'Ah,    Brother ,  I   only  wish 

I  could  mend  your  theology  as  easily." 

4 


50  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

moral  and  religious  side  come  Wayland's  Discourses,  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost,  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  interspersed  with 
other  books  occasionally.     So  you  see  I  have  my  hands  full." 

He  proceeds  to  narrate  at  length  how  two  students  had 
been  recently  expelled,  and  then  taken  back.  One  of 
these,  who  became  a  famous  Baptist  minister,  was  expelled 
for  lecturing  on  temperance  during  study  hours.  The 
other  was  expelled  for  striking  a  student  during  the  rush 
for  library  books.  By  the  intercession  of  one  of  the  pro- 
fessors, both  w^ere  restored.  It  is  evident  that  the  young 
Southerner  relates  w4th  considerable  gusto  the  circum- 
stances of  this  personal  rencontre;  but  it  has  to  be  admitted 
that  the  parties  concerned  w^ere  both  from  New  England. 
The  letter  ends :  — 

'^  I  suppose  ere  I  receive  your  answer,  Christmas,  Mdth  its 
eventful  times,  will  have  passed.  Would  that  I  were  home  on 
that  day  !  " 

Even  in  this  lively  letter  of  the  gay  young  student  to 
a  lady  friend  we  see  that  his  religious  earnestness  shows 
itself.  In  letters  to  Mr.  Tupper,  during  the  early  part  of 
1847,  he  is  full  of  devout  fervor,  and  longing  for  the  sal- 
vation of  friends,  both  in  college  and  at  home.  On  March 
5  he  says  that  for  five  or  six  weeks  he  has  been  greatly 
occupied  and  deeply  impressed.  A  revival  has  now  begun 
in  the  college,  and  there  are  three  converts,  including  two 
of  his  special  friends.  "Everything  seems  to  indicate  a 
great  work  about  to  be  accomplished."  Near  the  close  of 
the  spring  term  he  tells  that  the  revival  has  made  a  great 
change  in  the  moral  tone  of  the  college,  putting  an  end  to 
profanity  and  other  forms  of  irreverence. 


"There  was  not  a  particle  of  excitement.  Not  a  single  man, 
as  far  as  my  knowledge  extended;^  seems  to  have  been  converted 
under  excitement.  Many,  I  know,  took  works  on  the  Evidences  of 
Christianity,  and,  reading  with  a  determination  to  learn  the  truth, 


AT  BROWN   UNIVERSITY  51 

were  convicted  of  their  sins,  and  taught  to  cry  out,  '  What  shall 
I  do  to  be  saved  ? '  Several,  myself  among  the  number,  who  had 
unconverted  room-mates,  have  been  gratified  by  seeing  them 
turn  to  the  Saviour.  Two  or  three  who  had  been  brought  up  in 
the  doctrines  of  Universalism  were  convinced  that  these  were  un- 
scriptural  and  absurd,  and  taught  to  look  to  Jesus  as  the  author 
and  finisher  of  our  faith.  Nor  do  we  expect  it  to  end  here  ;  we 
are  determined,  with  the  aid  of  God's  Spirit,  to  continue  this  work 
during  the  next  term,  and  not  to  rest  until  not  a  soul  can  be  found 
here  who  has  not  felt  and  known  the  pardoning  grace  of  God. 
Many  of  those  who  have  recently  become  cob  verted  will  labor 
among  their  impenitent  friends  at  home,  and  return,  we  trust, 
strengthened  in  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ.  Never  have  I  felt  until 
this  revival  what  a  blessed  privilege  it  is  to  save  a  soul.  May 
my  prayer  evermore  be  to  God  that  he  may  make  me  instrumental 
in  his  hands  in  tlie  salvation  of  many  !  It  is  indeed  a  glorious  and 
blessed  privilege  to  labor  in  the  vineyard  of  my  Master." 

Dr.  Guild  tells  us  that  the  revival  went  on  throughout 
the  session,  with  much  earnest  praj^er  and  effort  on  the 
part  of  devout  students,  and  constantly  fostered  by  the 
conversations  and  discourses  of  President  Wayland.  Be- 
fore the  close  of  Boyce's  Senior  year  the  converts  included 
George  P.  Fisher,  James  B.  Angell,  H.  L.  Wayland, 
Eowland  Hazard,  and  in  all  twenty-seven  of  the  students. 
Probably  few  people  consider  how  much  a  revival  at  a  col- 
lege may  amount  to.  Among  these  quiet  but  bright-eyed 
young  men  there  are  almost  sure  to  be  some  who  will  be  a 
great  power  in  the  land.  Xot  only  on  set  days,  but  often, 
in  public  and  in  private,  ought  Christians  to  pray  for 
those  who  teach  and  those  who  learn  in  colleges  and  uni- 
versities, in  theological  seminaries,  and  all  educational 
institutions. 

The  spring  vacation  (1847)  was  spent  by  Mr.  Boyce  as 
the  guest  of  his  room-mate,  Adin  B.  Underwood  (after- 
wards General  Underwood),  at  Milford,  Mass.  Writing 
to  Mr.  Tupper  from  Milford,  on  April  17,  he  refers  to 
the  approaching  Commencement,  saying  that  the   Senior 


52  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

class  is  reputed  the  very  best  that  has  ever  graduated 
at  Brown,  and  speaking  of  a  subject  for  the  Commence- 
ment address,  of  which  he  has  been  thinking.  In  a 
postscript  to  this  letter  comes  an  important  statement, 
for  which  an  extract  from  a  former  letter  has  pre- 
pared us:  "I  believe  I  have  never  told  j^ou  my  inten- 
tion to  study  for  tlie  ministry.  I  will  tell  you  all 
about  it  another  time."  Two  w^eeks  later  he  writes: 
"As  to  my  profession,  I  think  at  j^resent  that  I  shall 
study  for  the  ministry.  That  seems  to  me  the  onlj^  sub- 
ject in  which  I  could  have  any  interest;  and  it  seems  to 
me  a  theme  so  glorious,  and  one  so  much  needed  by  man- 
kind, that  I  should  love  to  proclaim  it."  In  June  we  find 
that  he  has  written  to  his  father  about  his  desire  to  be  a 
minister,  and  to  study  at  some  theological  school.  His 
father  suggested  that  he  should  wait  till  he  comes  home. 
He  is  now  hesitating  whether  first  to  spend  a  year  in  gen- 
eral reading  (as  a  resident  graduate  at  Brown,  or  at  home 
in  Charleston),  or  to  go  next  fall  to  a  theological  seminary. 
August  2  he  writes  from  ISTew  York  that  he  has  been  sick 
some  days,  and  is  barely  able  to  sit  up.  He  was  doubt- 
less broken  down  by  the  hard  study  of  the  session,  accom- 
panied by  intense  religious  zeal  and  effort.  Later  we 
learn  that  his  grade  was  seven  (in  a  class  of  thirty-four) ; 
he  had  hoped  to  be  fifth.  The  Commencement  would 
occur  in  September,  and  his  graduating  address  was  to  be 
on  "International  Charity,  a  IS'ew  Thing  in  the  Civiliza- 
tion of  the  World." 

When  Boyce  returned  home  after  being  graduated  at 
Brown  in  September,  1847,  it  became  increasingly  mani- 
fest to  those  who  knew  him  well,  not  only  that  he  was 
thoroughly  earnest  in  the  religious  life,  but  that  he  was 
developing  great  intellectual  power.  His  mind  was  full 
of  questions  which  he  was  anxious  to  have  solved.  On 
one  occasion,  in  company  with  Allen  T upper,  he  ap- 
proached a   distinguished  divine  at  Charleston,  and  im- 


AT  BROWN   UNIVERSITY.  53 

mediately  after  the  exchange  of  salutations  the  minister 
said,  ''I  ain  very  glad  to  see  you,  James;  but  please  do 
not  ask  me  any  hard  questions."  He  was  equally  pleased 
to  have  hard  questions  asked  him.  He  delighted  to  un- 
ravel any  knotty  matter,  whether  a  coimndrum,  a  philo- 
sophic paradox,  or  a  social  difficulty.  He  would  be  merry 
in  positions  wherein  others  were  perplexed.  His  father, 
as  we  are  told,  was  now  very  proud  of  James,  and  expected 
him  to  become  a  man  of  distinction.  The  young  man,  for 
his  part,  was  burning  with  ambition  for  profound  scholar- 
ship and  the  widest  possible  mastery  of  knowledge.  One 
indication  of  this  was  in  the  character  as  well  as  number 
of  the  books  he  began  at  once  to  procure,  at  large  cost. 
He  was  laying  a  broad  foundation  for  life-long  acquisition. 
While  circumstances,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  sub- 
sequent life,  largely  denied  him  the  benefit  of  studious 
quiet,  he  did  become  a  very  remarkable  combination  of 
scholar  and  business  man,  such  as  one  rarely  sees.  But 
his  youthful  ambition  for  vast  attainments  and  profound 
scholarship  was  sadly  hindered  and  thwarted  throughout 
his  busy  years;  and  those  who  loved  him  best  will  appre- 
ciate the  statement  of  Dr.  Tupper,  made  from  personal 
knowledge,  that  Boj^ce  regarded  this  as  the  greatest 
sacrifice  he  made  for  the  theological  semmary. 

It  was  a  sad  disappointment  to  Mr.  Ker  Boyce  when 
he  found,  during  the  summer  and  autumn,  that  James  was 
immovabl}'^  resolved  to  be  a  minister.  Besides  a  natural 
ambition  that  his  son  might  become  distinguished  as  a 
lawj^er,  and  perhaps  as  a  statesman,  — for  both  of  which 
pursuits  the  father's  insight  discerned  in  him  peculiar 
qualifications,  — he  began  alread}^  to  hope,  as  we  have 
heretofore  observed,  that  James  would  be  the  man  to  take 
charge  of  his  large  estate,  and  carry  on  his  great  business 
undertakings,  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  family.  While 
a  strictly  moral  man,  and  a  generous  supporter  of  the 
church  he  attended,  the  father  had  no  great  sympathy  with 


54  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

the  claims  of  the  ministry;  and,  as  in  many  other  such 
cases,  it  was  hard  for  him  to  acquiesce  in  the  youth's  de- 
termination to  ''throw  away"  all  his  practical  powers  and 
possibilities  upon  the  work  of  a  minister.  There  were  of 
course  others  who  took  a  similar  view.  His  namesake  Mr. 
Petigru  said,  ''What  a  lawj^er  he  would  have  made!" 
We  hear  of  an  old  merchant  in  Charleston,  one  of  his 
father's  partners  in  the  dry-goods  house,  who,  being  told 
that  Jimmy  Boyce  meant  to  be  a  parson,  said,  ' '  Well, 
well,  why  don't  he  follow  some  useful  occupation  ?  If  he 
would  only  have  stuck  to  business,  he  would  have  made 
one  of  the  best  merchants  in  the  country."  Young  men 
of  no  remarkable  talents  or  worldly  advantages  often  have 
to  pass  through  similar  opposition  and  reproach  in  enter- 
ing upon  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  A  surviving  sister 
testifies  that  their  father  was  already  proud  of  James's 
talents,  and  became  so  more  and  more ;  and  we  shall  find 
him  gladly  affording  every  possible  advantage  for  the 
prosecution  of  ministerial  studies. 

On  the  14th  of  November,  1847,  H.  Allen  Tupper  and 
James  P.  Boyce  were  licensed  to  preach  by  the  church  in 
Charleston.  Two  weeks  earlier,  Boyce  had  written  to  his 
friend  from  Aiken,  the  summer  home  of  the  family,  where 
he  was  teaching  his  young  brother  Kerr,  preparing  him 
for  boarding-school.  In  this  letter  he  greatly  laments  his 
decay  of  spirituality.  When  he  offers  a  prayer,  it  "  often 
seems  to  be  the  discord  of  the  lips,  and  not  the  music  of 
the  heart."  A  fortnight  after  the  licensing  he  writes 
again,  "  Rejoice  with  me,  for  my  joy  now  is  not  exceeded 
by  that  which  I  felt  when  I  first  entered  on  Christ's  de- 
lightful service."  Such  changes  of  feeling  are  neither  rare 
nor  strange.  He  was  already  beginning  to  preach  on 
Sundays,  and  writing  some  articles  for  the  South  Carolina 
Baptist. 


MARRIAGE   AND   EDITORIAL   WORK.  55 


CHAPTER  V. 

MARRIAGE   AND    EDITORIAL   WORK. 

AMONG  James  Boyce's  classmates  at  Brown  Univer- 
sity, and  for  a  while  his  room-mate,  was  Milton 
G.  Kobert,  of  Robertville,  S.  C,  belonging  to  a  family 
which  has  produced  several  distinguished  Baptists.  In 
visiting  his  brother,  Rev.  L.  J.  Robert,  pastor  at  Wash- 
ington, Ga.,  this  young  man  made  a  marriage  engagement 
with  Miss  Colby,  of  that  place,  and  he  still  lives  in 
the  vicinity.  After  their  graduation  he  took  James  P. 
Boyce  with  him  to  Washington,  as  one  of  the  "waiters" 
at  the  wedding,  Dec.  9,  1847.  One  of  the  bride's  attend- 
ants, though  not  his  partner,  was  Miss  Lizzie  Llewellyn 
Ficklen,  daughter  of  Dr.  Fielding  Ficklen,  of  that  village. 
It  is  related  by  a  resident  that  the  young  man  became 
quite  enamoured  that  evening.  The  next  day,  when  the 
wedding  party  were  going  into  the  country  to  djne,  he  was 
reproached  by  the  bridegroom  for  asking  to  accompany 
Miss  Ficklen  instead  of  his  partner.  Things  went  so  fast 
with  his  feelings  that  in  returning  from  the  country  din- 
ner he  asked  her  to  marry  him,  but  without  success.  In 
fact,  it  cost  the  ardent  youth  several  months  of  repeated 
visits,  to  say  nothing  of  numerous  letters,  before  he  could 
gain  any  promise  of  marriage. 

Dr.  Ficklen  had  come  from  Virginia,  where  his  brother, 
George  Ficklen,  was  an  eminent  citizen  and  leading  Bap- 
tist of  the  famous  Gourd  Vine  Church,  in  Culpeper  County, 
and  another  brother,  Burwell  Ficklen,  was  an  honored 
citizen  of  Fredericksburg ;  while  the  family  connection  in- 
cludes a  number  of  well-known  men  in  different  parts  of 


56  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

that  State.  The  Ficklens  were  of  Welsh  origin,  and  one 
fancies  that  they  exhibit  some  of  the  better  Celtic  traits 
of  character.  Dr.  Ficklen's  wife  was  Miss  Frances  Ann 
Wingfield,  whose  grandfather  came  from  Albemarle 
County,  Va.,  the  name  showing  an  English  family. 
The  doctor  did  not  give  his  whole  attention  to  the  practice 
of  medicine  in  Washington,  but  turned  more  and  more 
towards  planting,  in  which  he  was  quite  successful.  In 
middle  life  he  became  a  Christian,  and  afterwards  a 
greatly  honored  deacon  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Washing- 
ton,—  a  man  of  frank  and  manly  bearing,  "  transparent  can- 
dor, scrupulous  conscientiousness,  and  Christian  probity," 
and  notably  strict  in  his  ideas  of  Christian  life  and  of 
church  discipline.  Miss  Lizzie  had  been  educated  in  a 
very  remarkable  school  at  Washington,  which  had  been 
built  up  especially  through  the  efforts  of  Adam  Alexander 
(father  of  the  Confederate  general,  now  railroad  presi- 
dent), whose  numerous  daughters,  there  educated,  became 
the  wives  of  distinguished  men  in  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina.  The  lady  principal  at  the  time  when  Lizzie  was 
educated  was  Miss  Bracket,  who  had  come  from  the 
North,  and  afterwards  married  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams,  a 
well-known  Congregational  minister  of  Boston. 

Washington  is  a  pleasant  village  in  Northeastern 
Georgia,  eighteen  miles  north  of  the  Georgia  Railroad,  and 
not  far  from  the  South  Carolina  line.  It  is  the  centre  of 
a  rolling  and  healthy  countrj^,  which  the  Wingfields  com- 
pared to  Albemarle,  very  fertile  in  grain  and  cotton. 
Here  the  famous  Jesse  Mercer  was  the  first  Baptist  pas- 
tor, and  started  here,  in  1833,  ''The  Christian  Index," 
which  is  still  the  Baptist  paper  of  Georgia.  Here  lived 
the  celebrated  Senator  Robert  Toombs,  and  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  went  to  school  here,  —  in  a  square  wooden  build- 
ing which  still  stands,  — but  made  the  home  of  his  life  at 
Crawfordsville,  in  an  adjoining  county.  Thus  the  village 
and  surrounding  country  presented  good  societj?^  as  well  as 


MARRIAGE  AND  EDITORIAL  WORK.  57 

good  schools.  To  these  advantages  of  family  and  educa- 
tion were  added  rare  personal  attractions,  great  kindness 
of  heart,  and  extraordinary  brilliancy  in  conversation;  so 
that  our  young  collegian,  with  all  his  ardor,  may  be  de- 
fended as  not  having  lost  his  head  when  he  so  quickly 
lost  his  heart. 

We  cannot  venture  to  quote  the  letters  written  to 
his  friend  and  future  brother-in  law  during  the  next 
few  months.  On  one  occasion  whole  pages  are  filled 
with  outpourings  of  a  lover's  wretchedness  when  rejected, 
but  winding  up  with  the  steadfast  purpose  to  try  again. 
A  loving  sister  brings  to  bear  upon  the  case  a  certain 
feminine  clairvoyance,  and  comforts  him  with  the  hope 
that  he  may  succeed  at  last.  Then  the  correspondence 
fails  us,  as  a  well-behaved  corresjDondence  should  do;  but 
in  May  we  learn,  from  an  allusion  to  plans  for  the  future, 
that  an  understanding  has  been  reached,  and  definite 
hopes  are  permitted. 

In  April,  1848,  Mr.  Boyce  and  Mr.  Tupper  went  to 
New  York,  on  their  wa}^  to  Madison  University,  at  Ham- 
ilton, N.  Y., —  now  called  Colgate  University,  —  for  the 
purpose  of  entering  the  theological  department.  After 
arriving  in  Nf^w  York  city,  they  heard  from  Dr.  T.  J. 
Conant,  then  Professor  of  Hebrew  at  Hamilton,  that  three 
months  of  Hebrew  had  to  be  made  up  in  about  three 
weeks,  in  order  to  enter  the  theological  course  at  the 
point  they  desired.  Mr.  Tupper  accomplished  this,  and 
went  through  the  course  at  Hamilton.  Mr.  Boyce  found 
his  eyes  so  weak  and  suffering  at  the  time  that  it  was 
evidently  unwise  to  attempt  the  Hebrew.  On  April  28 
he  wrote  from  New  York  to  his  friend  at  Hamilton  a  very 
sad  letter.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Delafield  had  ordered  that 
he  should  stop  study  for  a  year,  and  advised  that  he 
should  abandon  altogether  the  idea  of  a  studious  life. 
*'I  shall  therefore  adopt  the  latter  advice.  I  regret 
much  that  we    cannot   pursue    our  studies  together,    but 


58  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

more  that  I  am  compelled  to  give  up  that  profession 
towards  which  I  have  so  long  looked.  I  shall  return 
to-morrow  week  to  Charleston."  A  week  later  he  writes 
again  that  he  is  not  going  to  give  up  the  study  for  the 
ministry.  The  physician  thinks  that  hy  leading  a  very 
active  life  during  the  summer,  together  with  certain  med- 
ical treatment,  he  may  recover  the  use  of  his  eyes  for 
study.  The  doctor  has  said  that  a  trip  to  Europe  would 
of  itself  be  sufficient  to  cure  him.  But  he  shrinks  from 
making  this  journey  without  a  certain  companionship,  on 
which  he  may  not  count. 

We  learn  from  others  that  his  return  voyage  to  Charles- 
ton was  protracted  b}^  bad  weather ;  and  through  the  con- 
sequent nautical  experiences  he  was  relieved  of  extreme 
biliousness,  and  this  contributed  to  the  cure  of  his  eyes. 
Throughout  the  summer  he  found  it  necessary  to  be  care- 
ful, but  his  eyes  finally  recovered  strength.  He  often 
suffered  through  life  from  severe  bilious  attacks,  but  we 
never  again  hear  of  any  trouble  with  the  eyes,  though  he 
read  so  widely,  at  all  hours,  on  railway  trains  and  every- 
where. A  like  trouble  from  study  at  college  led  Richard 
H.  Dana,  Jr.,  to  a  voj^age  to  California  in  1834-1836, 
described  in  his  famous  book,  ''Two  Years  before  the 
Mast;  "  and  the  biographer  states  that  he  also  never 
afterwards  suffered  from  weak  eyes. 

In  the  autumn  we  find  Mr.  Boyce  in  much  better  health, 
and  preaching  with  great  zeal  at  Aiken,  at  Washington, 
Ga.,  and  other  points,  and  at  length  undertaking  impor- 
tant duties  in  Charleston,  to  which  we  shall  presently 
give  attention.  The  marriage  occurred  at  Washington, 
Dec.  20,  1848,  and  the  young  couple  went  at  once  to  live 
in  Charleston.  But  he  delighted  in  visiting  the  pleasant 
village  where  he  had  found  his  wife,  and  easily  made 
himself  a  place  in  the  family  circle.  Some  time  after  her 
marriage  the  bride  told  his  sister,  in  her  sportive  way, 
that  her  mother  always  took  sides  with  James  rather  than 


MARRIAGE   AND  EDITORDVL   WORK.  59 

with  her.  So  glad  he  was  to  have  a  mother  again!  In 
one  of  the  subsequent  visits,  it  is  stated  by  Capt.  J.  T. 
Wingfield,  Mrs.  Boyce's  cousin,  that  the  young  minister 
preached,  at  the  time  when  he  was  ordained  deacon,  a  ser- 
mon an  hour  and  a  half  long,  which  the  captain  quaintly 
declares  to  have  been  ''the  shortest  long  sermon"  he 
ever  heard.  Some  years  later,  Mr.  Boyce's  brother-in- 
law,  Rev.  H.  A.  Tupper,  became  pastor  at  Washington, 
and  remained  there  nearly  twenty  years,  taking  great 
delight  in  his  charge,  and  resisting  many  invitations  to 
go  elsewhere.^ 

1  The  following  was  published  not  long  ago  in  the  "Wasliington 
[Ga.]  Gazette :  "  — 

"  GENERAL   LAWTON    AND    WASHINGTON. 

"The  unforeseen  consequences  of  our  actions  are  often  the  subject 
of  comment.  On  a  November  day  of  1845,  Gen.  A.  R.  Lawton  came 
to  Washington  on  a  very  interesting  occasion  ;  namely,  to  be  married. 
He  doubtless  felt  very  pleasantly  disposed  to  the  little  up-country  town 
in  which  he  found  his  wife.  On  one  of  his  trips  he  was  accompanied 
by  a  bachelor  friend,  Mr.  Milton  Robert,  who  fell  in  love  with  another 
Washington  girl,  and  married  her.  There  came  to  this  wedding  another 
bachelor,  Rev.  James  P.  Boyce.  He,  too,  married  a  Washington  girl. 
From  these  two  marriages  Washington  has  derived  many  advantages 
besides  the  blessing  of  good  husbands  to  her  daughters.  The  children 
and  grandchildren  sprung  from  them  form  a  large  circle  of  excellent 
and  desirable  citizens.  But  this  was  not  all  the  good  derived  from 
General  Lawton  to  Washington.  In  consequence  of  the  marriage  of 
Rev.  James  P.  Boyce,  Dr.  Tupper,  who  married  his  sister,  was  invited 
here.  The  good  Dr.  Tupper  did  is  untold.  His  influence  on  religion, 
and  his  thousand  kindnesses,  will  never  be  forgotten  while  a  single 
person  remains  who  knew  him.  Now,  General  Lawton,  though  not  the 
cause,  was  certainly  the  occasion,  of  all  this  good  to  Washington.  .  .  . 
This  is  a  good  deal  to  owe  to  General  Lawton  ;  and  running  it  up,  it 
seems  as  if  we  ought  to  present  the  general  with  a  silver  service.  But 
it  occurred  to  us  just  here  that  General  Jjawton  owes  a  good  deal  to 
Washington,  for  the  town  furnished  Mrs.  Lawton.  In  detailing  all 
this  to  the  general,  we  asked  him,  did  he  not  think  he  and  Washington 
were  even?     'Yes,'  he  said,    'more  than  even.      I  owe  Washington 


60  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

In  May,  1846,  there  Lad  appeared  in  Charleston  '^The 
Southern    Baptist,"   a   weekly  paper  which   was    contin- 
ued till  the  beginning  of  the  War  of  Secession.     For  more 
than  two  years  it  was  ''  edited  by  a  committee  of  brethren 
of   the    Baptist  churches    in    Charleston."      The    pastors 
of   the    First    Baptist    Church    at    that    period   were    the 
famous  Georgian,  Dr.  N.  M.  Crawford,  from  1845  to  1847, 
and  from  1847  to  1854  Dr.  J.  R.  Kendrick,   of  the  dis- 
tinguished Baptist  family  in  ISTew  York  State.     No  doubt 
each  of  these  took  an  active  part  in  the  editing,  and  they 
were  aided  by  James  Tuj^per,  Esq.,  a  leading  lawyer  and 
Baptist,   and    others  whose    names  are  not  known.       On 
Nov.   22,    1848,    the    heading  reads,    "James  P.   Boyce, 
Editor."     A   notice    of   the    change,    signed    ''The    late 
Editors,"    says:    ''Mr.   Bo^^ce   is    a    graduate  of   Brown 
University,   a  licentiate  of  the  First  Baptist  Cliurch  in 
Charleston,    and    possesses    qualities  of  mind   and   heart 
which  give  promise  of  distinction  and  usefulness  in  the 
new  field  of  labor  he  has   entered."     The  new   editor's 
salutatory  mentions  that  the  paper  has  been  going  into 
three   thousand  families,    thinks  that  in   excellence   "  it 
has   been    surpassed   by    none    of    our    Southern    Baptist 
papers,"  and  very  earnestly  asks  for  increased  patronage 
and  continued  contributions.     In  fact,  their  high  stand- 
ard of  intelligence  and  taste  had  caused  the  brethren  to 
make  a  better  paper  than  could  at  that  time  be  supported 
in  a  comparatively  small  State,  where  the  great  mass  of 
the  Baptists  were  in  the  middle  and  up  country,  —  and 
railroads  did  not  then  extend  above  Columbia. 

The  young  editor  threw  himself  earnestly  into  the  under- 
taking, and  produced  a  paper  of  real  value.  To  a  much 
greater  extent  than  was  then  common  in  religious  week- 
lies,  it   is   seen  to  have   given  copious  and  well-collated 

"boot,  —  large  boot.'  And  come  to  think  of  it,  it  was  in  fact  Mrs. 
Lawton  wlio  brought  the  general  here,  and  set  the  ball  rolling  in  the 
first  instance." 


MARRIAGE  AND   EDITORIAL  WORK.  CI 

oiews,  foreign  and  domestic,  secular  as  well  as  religious. 
There  are  many  notices  of  books  and  periodicals,  with 
special  interest  in  the  four  British  Quarterlies,  and  ''  Black- 
wood^s  Magazine,"  which  were  republished  in  this  country 
by  Leonard  Scott  &  Co.,  and  at  that  day  represented  the 
very  cream  of  good  reading.  Many  a  young  man  of  that 
period  can  remember  the  instruction  and  inspiration  de- 
rived from  these  great  British  periodicals.  Remarkable 
space  is  given  in  the  paper  to  foreign  missions,  those  of 
the  Missionary  Union  in  Boston,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention,  organized  three  years  before. 
No  opportunity  is  missed  for  commending  institutions  of 
learning,  or  discussing  questions  of  education.  The  edi- 
tor's writing  consisted  largely  in  brief  paragraphs,  such  as 
have  now  become  common  in  the  best  papers.  Among  the 
leading  editorials,  such  general  topics  as  ''Purity  of 
Heart,"  ''Faith  an  Antidote  to  Trouble,"  "The  Blessed- 
ness of  Affliction, "  are  discussed  in  a  readable  and  help- 
ful fashion.  Under  the  head  of  "State  Schools  and 
Teachers,"  great  earnestness  is  shown  in  urging  improve- 
ment of  public  instruction.  Under  "Southern  Baptist 
Literature,"  it  is  said:  "We  trust  the  day  is  not  distant 
wdien  Southern  Baptists  will  be  extensive  producers  as 
well  as  consumers  of  religious  reading."  Under  "Mis- 
sions among  the  Southern  Slaves  "  :  "No  planter,  we  con- 
tend, should  rest  satisfied  until  he  has  taken  measures 
either  to  provide  a  religious  instructor  for  his  negroes,  or 
to  instruct  them  himself;  "  and  favorable  mention  is  made 
afterwards  of  the  way  in  which  this  was  managed  by  B.  C. 
Fressley,  Esq.  (now  Judge  Pressley),  on  his  plantation. 
An  editorial  in  the  first  number  for  1849  refers  quite 
impressively  to  the  European  revolutions  of  the  preceding 
year.  On  March  28,  1849,  a  leader  of  unusual  length 
favored  the  establishment  of  a  "Central  Theological  Insti- 
tution "  for  all  Baptists  of  tlie  South,  —  a  subject  which 
had   been  broached  two  or  three  years    before,   and  with 


t>-  MKMOIK    OK    JAMKS    V.    r>OVrK, 

Nvliii'li  tliis  Memoir  must  lavgoly  ooiu-oru  itsolt  in  later 
ohaptors. 

^loamimo.  on  March  7,  Kov.  A.  M.  roiiuloxtor.  nn  ho 
had  tlio  proNious  summor  oomo  from  \  irginia  to  I'harloston 
to  ho  C'orrospondin;;'  Soorotarv  of  tho  now  Southorn  Baptist 
ruhlioation  Sooiot  \ .  uavo  tho  folhnving  notioo  in  tlio 
paper:  ••Tho  Poposirory  of  tho  S.  l>.  V.  S.  has  hoou 
romovod  to  U>,  l>road  Street,  and  l\ev.  dames  V.  l^oycc 
has  heen  apj>ointed  Pepository  Agent."  From  that  time 
the  advertising  eohimns  eontain  Knig  lists  oi  religious 
books  as  kept  for  sale  at  the  depository,  with  his  name  as 
agent.  The  editor  aiul  ineipient  theologian  found  great 
deliglu  in  the  intimate  friendship  thus  begun  witli  Pr. 
Poindexter.  one  of  the  strongest  theoh>gieal  thinkers  in 
the  eountry.  and  destined  to  a  highly  intluential  eo-opera- 
tion  with  him  in  the  future  establishment  of  tlie  theolog- 
ieal  sehool.  His  own  jh/w/ianf  for  tlioology,  oven  at  this 
early  period,  appears  in  his  allowing  tho  paper  to  be  for 
many  weeks  weighted  down  by  two  dist inguisheil  brethren 
with  long  and  elaborate  articles  on  the  doetrino  of  •'Im- 
putation." in  which  comparatively  few  of  tho  readers  could 
be  expected  to  take  nmch  interest. 

On  April  11  the  editor  in  three  several  instances 
dofonds  himself  against  ]HM-sonal  attack.  The  "Christian 
Index"  had  severely  com]^lained  of  the  "Southern  Bap- 
tist" for  publishing  a  misleading  account  of  action  taken 
by  tho  trustees  of  ^NForcor  University  in  regard  to  tho 
question  of  a  general  theological  institution,  ami  declared 
that  statements  given  in  quotation  marks  were  utterly 
ditloront  frotn  what  had  been  actually  said  in  tho  report 
of  tlio  trnstees.  ]\lr.  l^oyce  rejdies:  "  Strict inrs  of  the 
*  Chnstlan  Indtw.'  —  Wo  regret  very  much  that  errors  such 
as  tho  •  Index  '  notices  in  tho  piece  qnoted  below  should 
liavo  been  found  in  any  article  in  the  '  Southern  Baptist.' 
AVo  oopy  tho  entire  strictures  of  the  •  Index.'  purposely  to 
manifest  our  regret.     And  vet  we  are  not  ta  blame."     He 


MAIiiilAGE   AS  I)   KiJlTOltlAL    WOJlK.  O.'i 

goes  on  to  explain  that  his  account  of  the  matter  had  heen 
derived  from  another  paper,  and  the  quotation-marks  re- 
ferred to  tfjat  paper\s  statements.  The  defence  is  ample, 
and  the  opening  expression  of  regret  is  characteristic  of 
a  man  so  frank  and  candid.  It  is  said  that  some  ofte 
connected  with  the  paper  censured  tliis  expression,  on  the 
ground  that  a  newspaper  cannot  well  afford  to  admit  that 
it  lias  made  a  mistake.  This  idea  does  appear  to  be  enter- 
tained in  some  editorial  offices;  but  one  can  imagine  that 
James  P.  Boyce  must  have  been  not  a  little  vexed  at  the 
mere  suggestion.  Following  this  editorial  is  another,  in 
reply  to  the  criticisms  of  a  correspondent.  Thes^  had 
included  an  utter  misstatement  of  something  the  editor 
had  said,  and  he  replied  very  sharjdy:  ^' We  said  no  such 
thing;  and  how  a  man  of  common  sense  and  common  hon- 
esty can  assert  it,  we  know  not.  This  may  seem  strong 
language,  but  ...  it  is  enough  to  irritate  any  man  to 
have  his  language  perverted  in  this  way."  A  third  edi- 
torial replies  to  an  anonymous  "Subscriber"  who  grossly 
misrepresents  the  editor,  and  upon  the  strength  of  this 
misrepresentation  announces  that  he  will  cease  to  be  a 
subscriber  when  the  time  expires  for  which  he  has  paid. 
The  editor  in  reply  tries  to  be  calm  in  pointing  out 
the  misrepresentation,  but  adds  :  *'  In  conclusion,  we 
say  to  a  '  Subscriber  '  that  if  he  will  but  forward 
his  name,  it  shall  be  immediately  stricken  from  the 
list.  "VVe  would  not  for  ten  times  the  sum  of  his  sub- 
scription be  again  subjected  to  so  much  impertinence 
and  injustice.'' 

The  number  for  May  2d  ends  the  third  volume  of  the 
paper.  The  editor  calls  attention  to  that  fact,  and  says : 
''Our  own  connection  with  the  paper  is  to  close  with  the 
present  number.  We  opened  its  editorial  charge  at  the 
solicitation  of  our  brethren,  and  with  no  expectation  of 
retaining  it  beyond  a  few  months.  We  feel  a  deep  interest 
in  the  '  Southern  Baptist,'  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Bap- 


64  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

tists  of  South  Carolina,  and  this  interest  alone  induced  ns 
to  consent  to  occupy  our  present  post."  He  states  that 
the  former  editing  committee  will  resume  their  task,  but 
that  the  paper  is  still  in  debt,  and  the  receipts  not  sufficient 
to  pay  the  expenses;  and  so  he  appeals  for  pa3^ment  of 
subscriptions  in  arrear,  and  for  efforts  to  procure  new 
subscribers.  In  resuming  the  editorship,  on  May  9,  the 
committee  state  that  < Muring  five  months  the  paper  has 
been  gratuitously  and  efficiently  edited  by  Rev.  James  P. 
Boyce. "  ^  In  the  editorial  that  follows  they  speak  of  the 
fact  that  editors  must  expect  at  times  to  have  "  their  mo- 
tives misapprehended  and  rudely  impugned,  their  honest 
opinions  perverted  and  unkindly  assailed.''  This  goes  to 
show  that  the  J^oung  editor  had  keenly  felt  the  injustice 
done  him,  especially  by  the  writers  he  had  replied  to  on 
April  11.  He  was  a  man  so  thoroughly  honest,  candid, 
and  just  that  he  felt  surprise  at  first,  and  then  indigna- 
tion, at  any  cases  in  which  the  opposite  qualities  appeared 
to  be  manifested;  and  few  men  of  twenty-two  would  have 
been  quite  patient  under  such  provocation.  Had  he  felt 
bound  b}^  some  high  sense  of  duty  to  pursue  the  editorial 
career,  he  would  have  learned  to  bear  quietl}^  such  unjust 
assaults,  even  as  he  afterwards  did  learn  in  other  relations 
that  any  servant  of  the  public  must  expect  to  be  now  and 
then  misrepresented,  and  to  have  some  speech  or  action  of 
his  perverted  and  seized  upon  as  the  occasion  for  exploiting 
personal  views.  But  Mr.  Bo^'ce  had  not  at  all  undertaken 
to  make  editing  his  life-work.  The  discussion  of  religious 
topics  would  only  deepen  the  desire  for  regular  theological 
education,  which  he  now  determined  to  seek  at  Princeton 
in  the  autumn.  The  close  of  the  paper's  third  year  was  a 
convenient  time  for  ending  his  connection  with  it,  and 
the  recent  assaults  perhaps  made  him  impatient  to  throw 

1  The  number  of  subscribers  had  increased  while  he  was  editor,  but 
the  receipts  had  been  five  hundred  dollars  less  than  the  expenses  of 
publication. 


MARRIAGE  AND  EDITORIAL   WORK.  65 

the  task  aside  without  delay.  All  this  may  remind  us 
that  truly  great  and  useful  men  have  seldom  escaped  early 
struggles  with  impatience,  and  have  never  been  without 
strong  feelings  which  it  was  difficult  to  control.  A  great 
man  has  an  ardent  nature,  or  he  would  not  be  a  force  in 
the  world.  Those  who  see  men  of  eminence  silently  bear- 
ing undeserved  reproach,  or  explaining  with  quiet  dignity, 
frequently  have  little  conception  of  the  discipline  which 
has  been  needed  to  make  this  possible. 

For  one  so  young,  with  little  experience  in  preaching, 
and  no  regular  study  of  theology,  Mr.  Boyce  had  done 
remarkably  well  as  an  editor.  Had  he  thought  proper  to 
continue  in  that  line  of  work,  his  great  administrative 
talent,  wide  and  eager  reading,  special  interest  in  the 
practical  enterprises  of  missions  and  education,  and 
rapidity  of  composition,  would  sooner  or  later  have  made 
his  editorial  life  a  marked  success.  Years  afterwards  he 
more  than  once  intimated  that  if  the  Seminary  could  be- 
come fully  established  and  allow  some  leisure,  he  would 
like  to  conduct  a  religious  quarterly  or  monthly. 

Until  the  end  of  July,  1849,  he  continued  to  act  as 
depository  agent  for  the  Publication  Society,  and  some- 
times wrote  for  the  paper  over  his  initials. 

During  the  summer  he  hesitated  whether  to  take  a  theo- 
logical course  at  Hamilton,  where  Mr.  Tupper  was,  or  at 
Princeton.  There  was  much  talk  at  the  time  of  removing 
the  theological  school  from  Hamilton  to  Rochester,  and 
he  did  not  fancy  being  there  in  a  time  of  dissolution  and 
reconstruction.  He  inquired  particularly  about  the  extent 
and  value  of  the  library  at  Hamilton,  in  which  respect 
Princeton  then  doubtless  greatly  excelled.  Few  patrons  of 
higher  education  appreciate  the  value  of  a  great  library 
in  attracting  the  more  aspiring  students  and  in  promoting 
breadth  of  culture. 

In  April,  1849,  Mr.  Boyce's  eldest  brother,  John  John- 
ston Boyce,  died  in  Florida.     He  had  married  his  cousin, 

5 


66  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

the  daughter  of  Chancellor  Johnston.  His  father  had 
established  him  on  a  plantation  in  Florida,  with  the  vague 
hope  of  stopping  the  ravages  of  consumption.  An  obituary 
in  the  paper  which  James  was  editing  says  that  he  died 
"in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection.'' 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINAIIY.         67 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY,    1849-185L 

IN  September,  1849,  Mr.  Boyce  went  to  the  Presby- 
terian Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  and  re- 
mained there  as  a  student  for  two  years.  This  famous 
seminary  had,  like  all  the  rest,  its  small  beginnings.  It 
was  founded  in  1812,  and  for  one  year  Archibald  Alexander 
was  the  sole  professor.  In  1813  Samuel  Miller  was  added, 
and  in  1822  Charles  Hodge.  By  1849  Princeton  and  An- 
dover  were  the  two  leading  theological  schools  in  America. 
The  whole  number  of  students  during  Mr.  Boyce's  first 
session  was  one  hundred  and  thirty-six,  and  for  the  second 
session  one  hundred  and  forty-seven.  The  division  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  into  Old  School  and  New  School 
was  by  this  time  thoroughly  established,  and  Princeton 
was  recognized  as  the  great  bulwark  of  Old  School 
theology. 

When  our  student  entered,  in  1849,  Dr.  Samuel  Miller 
had  just  been  made  Emeritus  Professor,  and  he  died  in 
January  of  the  next  year.  His  numerous  practical  writ- 
ings on  ecclesiastical  questions  and  ministerial  duties 
must  have  been  quite  in  demand  among  the  students. 
The  author  of  ''  Clerical  Manners  "  was  somewhat  formal 
in  his  own  deportment,  but  proved  quite  cordial  when 
visited  at  his  home.  The  active  professors  at  this  time 
were  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  his  two  sons,  James  and 
Addison,  and  Dr.  Charles  Hodge. 

Archibald  Alexander  had  in  1840  turned  over  the 
department  of  Didactic  Theology  to  Dr.  Hodge,  and  was 
Professor  of  Pastoral  and  Polemic  Theology.     Though  now 


68  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

seventy-seven  years  old,  and  taking  but  a  limited  part  in 
the  instruction,  this  gifted  and  charming  man  left  a  last- 
ing impress  upon  his  students,  and  Mr.  Boyce  often  spoke 
of  him  with  gratitude  and  affection.  He  was  a  sort  of 
pastor  for  the  young  men,  with  whom  they  found  counsel 
and  sympathy.^  His  numerous  works  gained  a  wide  circu- 
lation, and  his  ''Moral  Science,"  "Religious  Experience," 
and  "Sermons  to  the  Aged"  may  still  be  particularly 
commended.  The  memoir  by  his  son  James  is  a  delight- 
ful book.  Dr.  Alexander  excelled  in  the  somewhat  diffi- 
cult matter  of  helpful  criticism  upon  sermons  preached  by 
the  students  before  the  class.  His  general  kindness  and 
sympathetic  appreciation  gave  keener  edge  to  the  caustic 
remarks  which  sometimes  appeared  needful.  Dr.  Boyce 
used  to  relate  that  on  one  occasion  a  student  took  as  his 
text,  "Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,"  and 
launched  into  a  magnificent  description  of  the  creation  of 
light,  with  great  splendor  of  diction  and  vehemence  of  de- 
liver}^  The  aged  professor  sat  with  his  chin  on  his  breast, 
quietly  listening  throughout  the  performance,  and  then, 
lifting  his  head,  said,  in  the  piping  tones  characteristic  of 
old  age,  "  You're  a  very  smart  young  man,  but  you  can't 
beat  Moses."  A  few  years  earlier,  a  student  of  very  im- 
posing talents  and  bearing,  a  Presbyterian  then,  but  who 
afterwards  became  a  High  Churchman  and  a  bishop, 
made  a  grand  discourse  upon  the  religious  instincts.  He 
represented  that  every  man's  character  and  life  will  depend 
simply  upon  which  of  his  instincts  gets  the  upper  hand, 

1  It  was  probably  at  an  earlier  date  that  we  must  place  a  story  which 
theological  students  might  find  suggestive.  An  old  negro  was  accus- 
tomed to  attend  a  church  some  miles  from  Princeton,  and  often  praised 
the  "high  larnt  "  young  preachers  who  came  out  from  the  seminary. 
One  day  he  looked  glum  on  returning  home,  and  being  asked  whether 
he  had  had  a  good  sermon,  said,  "  No,  sir;  no,  sir.  There  did  n't  none  of 
them  high  larnt  young  gentlemen  come  to-day,  but  jes'  a  old  man,  and 
he  stood  up  and  jes'  talked  and  talked."  The  preacher  was  Archibald 
Alexander. 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.    69 

and  everything  human  was  made  to  turn  on  a  battle  of 
instincts.  When  he  finished,  and  the  time  came  for 
critical  remarks  by  the  students,  they  seemed  afraid  to 
venture,  and  were  silent.  Dr.  Alexander  simply  said, 
''  My  instincts  are  not  sufficient  to  comprehend,  much 
less  to  criticise,  that  discourse."  In  these  cases  the 
severity  was  no  doubt  well  deserved,  and  ought  to  have 
proved  beneficial.  But  professors  of  homiletics,  and  even 
unofficial  critics  of  preaching,  doubtless  often  err,  and 
sometimes  gravely  and  hurtfully  err,  in  bestowing  their 
causticities  as  well  as  their  commendations. 

Dr.  James  Waddell  Alexander  this  year  succeeded  Dr. 
Miller  as  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Church 
Government,  and  the  next  year  took  over  from  his  father 
the  subject  of  Composition  and  Delivery  of  Sermons.  He 
resigned  in  1851,  and  it  was  Boyce's  singular  good  fortune 
to  hear  his  only  course  of  lectures  on  this  latter  topic, —  the 
notes  of  which  lectures  the  student  always  greatly  valued. 
From  1851  to  1859  Dr.  Alexander  was  pastor  of  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Presbyterian  Church  of  New  York  cit}^,  which  he 
did  much  to  strengthen  and  train,  and  which,  under  the 
pastorate  of  Dr.  John  Hall,  is  now  recognized  as  one  of  the 
leading  churches  of  America.  He  published  a  large  num- 
ber of  popular  and  useful  books,  of  which  the  ' '  Sermons 
on  Consolation,''  the  biography  of  his  father,  and  the 
''Forty  Years'  Familiar  Letters  of  J.  W.  Alexander,"  are 
of  particular  interest  and  value.  His  now  venerable 
mother  was  the  daughter  of  James  Waddell,  the  ''blind 
preacher,"  whom  William  Wirt  heard  in  a  church  near 
Gordonsville,  Va.,  and  described  in  an  often-quoted  pas- 
sage of  "The  British  Spy."  James's  wife  was  also  a 
Virginia  lady,  a  sister  of  the  famous  medical  professor, 
Dr.  James  L.  Cabell,  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
These  two  ladies  naturally  took  a  special  interest  in 
Southern  students,  and  the  elder  once  said  that  she  knew 
the  Baptist  students  better  than  the  Presbyterian,  because 


70  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

they  were  more  inclined  to  be  sociable.  Her  daughter  and 
namesake,  Miss  Janetta  Alexander,  is  also  remembered  as 
particularly  cordial  and  agreeable  towards  the  wife  of  a 
student. 

The  younger  son,  Dr.  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  among 
the  foremost  of  American  Biblical  scholars,  was  still  Pro- 
fessor of  Oriental  and  Biblical  Literature,  which  two  years 
later  he  gave  up  for  Biblical  and  Ecclesiastical  History. 
His  great  work  on  Isaiah  had  appeared  in  three  parts  in 
1846,  1847,  and  ^'The  Psalms  Translated  and  Explained" 
came  out  in  1850.  Addison  was  by  no  means  a  patient 
teacher  of  the  elements  of  Hebrew.  He  learned  languages 
himself  with  marvellous  facility,  and  could  not  sympathize 
with,  or  patiently  endure,  the  slow  mental  movements  of 
the  ordinary  student.  One  day,  when  some  fellow  had 
made  a  very  bad  out  of  his  Hiphil  forms  of  the  verb,  the 
professor  threw  down  his  Hebrew  grammar  on  the  table, 
and  angrily  said,  ''Gentlemen,  I  can't  spend  any  more 
time  on  these  elementary  matters.  Learn  them  for  your- 
selves. I  shall  begin  lecturing  on  Genesis  to-morrow.'' 
Eor  three  years  before  this,  his  students  had  enjoyed  the 
help  of  William  Henry  Green  as  instructor  in  Hebrew, 
who  resigned  that  position  in  1849,  and  in  1851  succeeded 
Dr.  Alexander  in  the  chair  which  he  still  occupies  with 
so  much  honor.  In  1850,  when  the  professor  had  worked 
alone  for  one  year,  it  was  found  advisable  to  appoint  another 
instructor  in  Hebrew.  It  is  somewhat  frequently  the  case 
that  a  great  linguistic  or  mathematical  genius  proves  ill- 
suited  to  elementary  instruction  in  the  subjects  he  masters 
with  such  facility;  and  a  teacher,  in  whatever  department 
or  grade,  must  constantly  strive  to  maintain  intellectual 
sympathy  with  his  pupils.  As  a  lecturer  on  exegesis,  Dr. 
Alexander  made  a  great  impression.  He  did  not  teach  the 
students  how  to  make  exegesis  for  themselves,  but  he  set 
them  a  noble  example,  by  his  complete  mastery  of  the 
requisite  learning,   his   honest  and   unwearied  pursuit  of 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.  71 

truth,  and  the  clear  and  convincing  fashion  in  which  his 
results  were  stated.  He  was  particularly  fond,  as  his  works 
also  show,  of  reconciling  antagonistic  views,  not  simply  by 
the  easy  method  of  taking  an  intermediate  position,  but 
often  by  rising  to  some  higher  principle,  which  compre- 
hended them  both  in  its  unity ;  and  he  would  often  startle 
by  the  felicity  with  which  he  converted  objections  to  the 
truth  into  arguments  for  its  support.  A  few  years  later, 
as  Professor  of  Biblical  and  Ecclesiastical  History,  his 
course  for  the  Junior  class  consisted  really  of  lectures  on 
the  English  Bible,  and  awakened  great  enthusiasm,  so  that 
Presbyterian  pastors  in  Philadelphia  would  run  out  to 
Princeton  to  hear  them,  and  students  of  that  period  have 
often  dwelt  upon  their  extraordinary  interest. 

Dr.  Chalmers  had  in  his  Lectures  in  Theology,  a  few 
years  earlier,  urged  upon  his  students  a  thorough  study  of 
the  English  Bible.  But  these  lectures  by  Alexander  are 
the  earliest  known  instance  of  making  the  English  Bible  the 
text-book  on  a  large  scale  in  a  theological  seminary,  —  a 
plan  afterwards  much  more  extensively  and  systematically 
pursued  in  the  Seminary  which  James  P.  Boyce  founded, 
and  of  late  j'-ears  beginning  to  be  adopted  in  various 
institutions.  In  his  last  years,  Addison  Alexander 
published  Commentaries  on  Acts,  Mark,  Matthew  (chapter 
i.-xvi.,  interrupted  by  his  death  in  1860),  which  are 
admirable  specimens  of  penetrating  and  judicious  exposi- 
tion, and  must  long  continue  to  be  necessary  to  a  minister's 
library.  The  memoir  by  his  nephew.  Dr.  Henry  C.  Alexan- 
der, is  a  work  full  of  inspiration  for  any  minister  or  stu- 
dent for  the  ministry  who  values  high  scholarship,  and 
appreciates  rare  and  varied  gifts.  It  is  said  that  Princeton 
students  were  greatl}^  impressed  by  Addison's  occasional 
sermons,  and  many  of  these  have  been  collected  in  two 
volumes  of  great  value.  His  intellectual  power  seized 
upon  a  truth  with  the  most  vigorous  grasp,  his  imagina- 
tion threw  over  it  the  chastened  splendors  of  a  genuine 


72  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES    P.  BOYCE. 

illumination,  and  liis  wealth  of  clioicest  English  fitted  it- 
self to  every  phase  of  truth  like  a  garment  to  him  that 
wears  it.  A  shy  and  recluse  student,  he  was  never  a  pas- 
tor, and  was  not  widely  known  as  a  preacher;  but  others 
besides  the  students  have  testified  that  when  inspired  by 
some  great  theme  he  would  at  times  read  one  of  his  noble 
discourses  with  overmastering  and  seldom-rivalled  power. 
Dr.  Hodge  once  said  to  Dr.  J.  AY.  Warder  that  Addison 
had  the  finest  mind  he  had  ever  known.  It  may  be  a  use- 
ful warning  to  add  that  this  admirable  man  presumed  on 
his  always  vigorous  health,  and  devoted  himself  to  in- 
cessant reading  and  writing,  with  an  almost  total  neglect 
of  exercise;  and  so,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  there  came  a  sudden 
collapse,  and  the  world  lost  all  those  other  noble  works 
which  he  might  have  been  expected  to  j)roduce,  and  which 
some  of  us  were  so  eagerly  awaiting. 

But  the  most  influential  of  all  Boyce's  instructors  at 
Princeton  was  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  now  fifty-two  years 
old,  and  at  the  height  of  his  powers.  A  graduate  of  the 
seminary,  and  professor  there  since  1820,  he  had  spent 
1826-1828  as  a  student  in  Paris  and  German3\  He  had 
founded  in  1825  the  ^'Biblical  Bepertory, "  afterwards 
called  "  Biblical  Bepertory  and  Princeton  Beview,"  which 
he  was  still  editing,  and  which  as  a  theological  quarterly 
had  no  rival  in  America  save  the  Andover  '' Bibliotheca 
Sacra."  Two  years  before  this  he  had  collected  from  the 
review  his  two  volumes  of  '^  Princeton  Theological  Es- 
says," and  much  earlier  (1835)  had  sent  out  his  famous 
''Commentary  on  Bomans,"  abridged  in  1836,  and  en- 
larged in  1866.  Other  works  had  also  appeared  from  his 
busy  pen,  including  an  excellent  practical  treatise  called 
''The  AYay  of  Life."  The  Commentaries  on  Ephesians 
and  on  Eirst  and  Second  Corinthians  came  out  some  years 
later,  and  his  magnum  opus,  the  "  Systematic  Theology, " 
three  volumes  8vo,  did  not  appear  till  1871.  But  already 
in  Boyce's  time  this  great  theological  course  was  mainly 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  , SEMINARY.  73 

developed,  and  laboriously  dictated  to  the  students.  Dr. 
Hodge  was  a  singularly  clear  and  consecutive  thinker. 
Dr.  Manly  remembered  it  as  a  saying  of  the  students, 
*'His  thoughts  move  in  rows."  Even  in  the  most  fa- 
miliar address^  every  thought  would  bring  with  it  the 
related  thoughts.  In  the  Sunday  afternoon  meetings, 
when  his  turn  came  to  speak  upon  the  practical  topic  which 
had  been  chosen,  he  would  first  lead  up  to  the  subject,  then 
discuss  it,  and  finally  draw  inferences  or  lessons;  and  this 
not  in  the  way  of  formality,  but  through  the  habit  of  his 
mind.  He  was  also  a  man  of  marked  Christian  earnest- 
ness and  fervor,  with  whom  the  great  doctrines  were  living 
facts,  James  Boyce  was  more  powerfully  impressed  by 
Dr.  Hodge  than  by  any  other  Princeton  professor,  and 
probably  more  than  by  any  other  teacher  except  President 
Waj'land.  Dr.  Manly  also  felt  satisfied  that  he  learned 
more  from  Hodge  than  any  of  the  others.  It  was  a  great 
privilege  to  be  directed  and  upborne  by  such  a  teacher  in 
studying  that  exalted  system  of  Pauline  truth  which  is 
technically  called  Calvinism,  which  compels  an  earnest 
student  to  profound  thinking,  and,  when  pursued  with  a 
combination  of  systematic  thought  and  fervent  experience, 
makes  him  at  home  among  the  most  inspiring  and  enno- 
bling views  of  God  and  of  the  universe  he  has  made. 
Dr.  Hodge  was  at  this  time  in  quite  poor  health,  and 
suffered  great  and  long-continued  distress  at  the  death  of 
his  wife,  Dec.  25,  1849;  but  his  work  was  faithfully  done. 
We  have  thus  seen  that,  except  the  lack  of  Dr.  Grreen's 
help  in  Hebrew,  our  student  was  greatly  favored  in  his 
Princeton  professors.  Hodge  and  Addison  Alexander 
were  at  the  height  of  their  great  powers.  Archibald 
Alexander  was  still  giving,  in  the  class-room  and  in 
private,  the  fruits  of  his  eminent  gifts  and  rich  experi- 
ence, and  these  were  the  last  two  years  of  his  long  life. 
James  Alexander  was  an  inspiring  teacher  and  friend, 
and  his  professorial  work  was  limited  to  Boyce's  two 
years. 


74  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES   P.  BOYCE. 

His  fellow-students  also  comprised  a  number  of  superior 
men.  Among  the  fifty-two  members  of  the  entering  class, 
even  persons  little  acquainted  with  Presbyterian  history 
can  point  out  several  who  afterwards  became  distinguished. 
E,.  F.  Bunting,  D.  D.,  was  long  pastor  at  San  Antonio 
and  Galveston,  Texas,  and  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  in 
1876  became  editor  of  the  Texas  "  Presbyterian."  W.  C. 
Cattell,  D.  D.,  was  Professor  of  Greek  and  Latin  in  La- 
fayette College,  Pa.,  1855-1860,  and  in  1863  became 
president  of  the  college.  J.  M.  Crowell,  D.  D.,  was  long 
pastor  in  Philadelphia.  Caspar  Wistar  Hodge,  D.  D., 
son  of  Charles  Hodge,  was  teacher  and  pastor  for  some 
years,  and  in  1860  became  Professor  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament in  the  seminary,  having  succeeded  Addison 
Alexander,  who.  had  held  that  position  for  one  year;  Dr. 
C.  W.  Hodge  died  in  1891.  George  McQueen  was  a  mis- 
sionary in  Western  Africa  from  1852  to  his  death  in  1859. 
Robert  Price,  D.  D.,  a  Mississippian,  was  long  pastor  in 
Vicksburg.  Robert  Watts,  D.  D.,  a  native  of  Ireland, 
was  pastor  in  Philadelphia  for  ten  years,  and  in  Dublin 
for  three  years,  and  since  1866  has  been  professor  of  Sys- 
tematic Theology  in  the  Assembly's  College  at  Belfast, 
Ireland.  He  is  the  author  of  numerous  works  in  support 
of  Presbyterianism  or  of  general  orthodoxy,  of  which  the 
best  known  are  "The  Newer  Criticism"  (1881),  ''The 
Rule  of  Paith  and  the  Doctrine  of  Inspiration"  (1885), 
and  ''The  New  Apologetic." 

Among  the  students  who  entered  a  year  later  than  Boyce 
we  may  mention  Edgar  Woods,  who  was  Presbyterian  pas- 
tor at  several  i^laces  in  Virginia  and  Ohio,  and  after  1877 
a  teacher  at  Charlottesville,  Va.  There  was  also  quite 
a  group  of  Baptist  students  from  the  South  who  entered 
that  year,  the  division  between  Northern  and  Southern 
Baptists  making  many  reluctant  to  attend  Newton  or 
Hamilton.  Alfred  Bagby  has  spent  a  very  useful  life  as 
pastor  of  Baptist  churches  in  King  and  Queen  and  adja- 
cent counties  of  Virginia.     Andrew  Fuller  Davidson  was 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.         75 

also  a  beloved  pastor  of  churches  in  Virginia  for  a  good 
many  years  till  his  death.  James  K.  Mendenhall  had 
been  Boyce's  friend  in  Charleston,  and  his  fellow-student 
at  Brown  University.  He  became  pastor  of  various 
Baptist  churches  in  South  Carolina  and  Florida,  and 
since  1875  has  labored  as  missionary  and  evangelist  in 
South  Carolina,  residing  in  Greenville.  Kichard  Furman 
Whilden  had  studied  at  the  Furman  Institution  in  South 
Carolina,  and  was  admitted  to  the  middle  class  in  Prince- 
ton, thus  becoming  Boyce's  class-mate.  He  was  graduated 
in  1852,  was  pastor  and  teacher  at  various  points  in  South 
Carolina,  and  since  1864  has  resided  in  Greenville  County, 
teaching  and  preaching. 

Of  those  who  had  entered  a  year  earlier  than  Boyce  at 
least  a  few  ought  to  be  mentioned.  Eobert  G.  Brank,  D.  D. , 
was  long  pastor  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  and  since  1869  has 
been  a  well-known  pastor  in  St.  Louis.  S.  S.  Laws, 
LL.D.,  was  for  some  years  president  of  Westminster 
College,  Mo.,  and  then  president  of  the  University  of 
Missouri  from  1875  to  1890.  Joseph  W.  Warder,  D.  D., 
of  Kentucky,  had  been  two  years  a  student  at  Newton 
Institution,  near  Boston,  and  came  to  Princeton  for  his 
third  year.  He  was  Baptist  pastor  at  various  points  in 
Kentucky  and  Missouri,  and  of  the  Walnut  Street  Baptist 
Church  in  Louisville,  1875-1880.  Since  that  time  he  has 
been  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Executive  Board  of 
the  Baptist  General  Association  of  Kentucky.  Of  those 
who  composed  the  Senior  class  when  Boyce  entered,  L.  G. 
Barbour,  D.  D.,  has  been  a  teacher  at  various  points  in 
Kentucky,  and  is  now  professor  in  the  Central  University 
at  Richmond,  in  that  State.  Basil  Manly,  Jr.,  of  Ala- 
bama, after  one  year  at  Newton,  had  entered  Princeton  in 
1845,  and  been  graduated  in  1847.  This  was  two  years 
before  Boyce  entered;  but  it  is  mentioned  because  they 
had  been  boys  together  in  Charleston,  and  were  destined 
to  be  colleagues  for  many  years. 


iO  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

Almost  every  student  is  more  interested  in  one  or  two 
subjects  than  in  the  rest  of  his  appointed  course  of  study. 
Mr.  Bo3'ce  had  at  Brown  University  become  a  thoroughly 
earnest  student;  and  the  conviction  that  it  was  his  duty  to 
be  a  preacher,  together  with  his  brief  experience  as  an 
editor,  must  have  deepened  the  desire  to  become  acquainted 
with  all  the  leading  departments  of  a  theological  course. 
He  worked  faithfully  in  all  directions.  He  also  gave  un- 
usual attention  to  the  library,  steadily  accumulating  that 
general  knowledge  of  books  for  which  he  was  remarkable 
through  life.  Observe  the  plans  indicated  in  a  letter  writ- 
ten a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  at  Princeton :  — 

"  I  am  now  pursuing,  in  connection  with  lectures  on  that  sub- 
ject, a  full  course  of  reading  in  Mental  Philosophy,  designing  to 
extend  it  from  that  of  the  Greeks  down  to  the  present  day.  At 
the  same  time  I  am  pursuing  Hebrew  Exegesis  in  Genesis,  and 
Greek  in  Romans,  and  am  carrying  on  a  course  of  reading  in 
the  biography  of  the  great  and  the  good  who  have  shed  lustre 
upon  the  Christian  name." 

But  his  favorite  study  from  beginning  to  end  was  Sys- 
tematic Theology.  He  was  naturally  inclined  to  reflect 
upon  principles  and  causes,  and  had  a  facility  in  organiz- 
ing the  results  of  reading  and  talk  which  was  akin  to  his 
unusual  talent  for  organizing  and  administering  business 
affairs.  These  natural  capacities  had  been  no  little  devel- 
oped by  Dr.  Wayland's  instructions  in  psychology  and 
ethics,  and  by  his  familiar  association  with  Dr.  A.  M. 
Poindexter,  who  delighted  to  draw  every  young  minister 
into  the  deepest  theological  inquiry  and  the  most  animated 
discussion.  The  leading  subject  at  Princeton  has  always 
been  Theology.  Thus  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  place 
united  with  the  great  powers  and  influence  of  Dr.  Hodge 
and  the  native  tendencies  and  previous  training  of  this 
student  to  make  him  especially  earnest  in  the  study  of 
Systematic  and  Polemic  Theology. 


AT   PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.  77 

During  the  second  session  be  took  his  regular  part  in 
the  appointed  preaching  and  in  the  prayer-meeting;  but 
Mr.  Whilden  says  he  was  not  prominent  in  the  debating 
society.  This  must  have  arisen  from  the  pressure  of  his 
studies,  for  he  was  naturally  fond  of  discussion,  and 
through  life  his  powers  always  worked  to  better  advantage 
in  debate  on  the  floor  than  in  pulpit  discourse.  During 
the  second  session,  when  Mr.  Whilden  was  there,  Boyce 
was  overwhelmingly  busy,  for  he  determined  to  carry  on 
the  studies  of  the  Senior  class  together  with  those  of  the 
Middle  class,  to  which  he  belonged.  He  obtained  from 
some  fellow-student  the  full  notes  of  Dr.  Hodge's  course 
in  Theology,  as  dictated  in  previous  years ;  and  these  were 
patiently  copied  by  the  young  wife,  thus  saving  him  a 
great  deal  of  time  and  toil.  Add  to  this  that  he  had  an 
extraordinary  power  of  application  and  endurance,  —  he 
could  work  for  weeks,  when  under  any  special  pressure, 
with  five  hours  a  day  of  sleep,  almost  no  exercise,  and  well- 
nigh  incessant  application  to  study.  His  recreation  was 
found  in  cheery  talk  at  meals,  in  the  occasional  drives  of 
which  he  was  fond,  and  the  somewhat  frequent  visits  which 
he  and  his  wife  paid  to  his  sister  Mary,  Mrs.  William 
Lane,   of  New  York  city. 

In  December  he  writes  to  Mr.  Tupper  that  they  have  a 
delightful  place  of  boarding,  with  the  widow  of  an  emi- 
nent physician.  The  Georgia  wife  is  "in  perfect  ec- 
stasies with  the  to  her  somewhat  unusual  sight  "  of  a 
heavy  snow.  Two  of  his  sisters  have  just  been  married 
in  Charleston  to  Mr.  Tupper  and  Mr.  Burckmyer,  and  in 
sending  congratulations  he  speaks  most  enthusiastically 
of  his  own  wife.  He  is  exceedingly  pleased  with  Dr.  James 
Alexander,  —  a  handsome  man,  with  beautiful  dark  eyes, 
and  the  bearing  of  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  in  the 
department  of  sacred  rhetoric  ''the  most  delightful  lec- 
turer I  have  ever  heard."  He  thinks  Addison  Alexander 
"the  most  gifted,  but  by  no  means  the  most  admirable^ 


78;  MEMOIR    OF  JAMES   P.   BOYCE. 

member  of  the  Faculty,"  having  seen  him  display  "an 
ungovernable  temper,"  —  probably  with  reference  to  the 
Hebrew.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  is  fast  declining  in 
3'ears,  and  does  not  seem  ''  as  gifted  as  his  sons,  but  has 
a  very  clear,  logical  mind."  Dr.  Hodge  ''  is  one  of  the 
most  excellent  of  men;  so  modest  and  yet  so  wise,  so  kind 
and  fatherly  in  his  manner,  and  yet  of  so  giant  an  intel- 
lect, he  is  a  man  who  deserves  a  world  of  praise."  In 
February  Boyce  has  been  to  Xew  York,  and  finds  the 
Lane  family  about  to  build  a  home  on  Madison  Square, 
and  attending  the  ministry  of  the  famous  Dr.  "William  E-. 
AYilliams.  He  expresses  much  fervent  solicitude,  and 
again  and  again  proposes  special  prayer  for  the  conversion 
of  various  relatives.  He  affectionately  urges  Mr.  Tupper, 
who  has  become  pastor  at  Graniteville,  S.  C.  (near  Aiken), 
to  be  very  faithful  in  pastoral  visiting,  which  he  thinks 
a  good  many  ministers  comparatively  neglect. 

On  Feb.  17,  1850,  Islv.  Boyce  preached  the  first  ser- 
mon that  remains  to  us,  and  it  is  indorsed  as  written 
in  January.  It  was  given  at  a  Baptist  church  called 
"Penn's  Xeck,"  a  few  miles  from  Princeton.  The  text 
is  Acts  xxvi.  28:  "Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  a 
Christian."  It  is  thoroughly  practical,  and  intensely 
earnest,  abounding  in  pointed  address  to  different  classes 
of  hearers,  and  fervent  exhortation.  You  feel  in  reading 
that  you  are  dealing  with  a  man  of  strong  intellect,  great 
force  of  character,  and  large  heart,  a  man  full  of  Christian 
love  and  zeal,  and  consumed  with  desire  to  save  souls. 
The  sentences  are  often  wanting  in  symmetry,  and  show 
the  hurried  negligence  from  which  his  style  never  wholly 
recovered;  but  the  thoughts  are  made  entirely  clear,  and 
are  expressed  with  vigor  and  force.  Written  when  he  was 
just  twenty-three  years  old,  it  is  a  notable  sermon. 

We  learn  from  his  wife  that  he  frequently  preached  at 
"Penn's  Neck"  during  this  and  tlie  following  session. 
Dr.  C.  W.  Hodsje,  who  was  his  fellow-student,  in  a  letter 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.  79 

after  Boyce's  death   spoke   of    *'his   high  reputation  for 
eloquence  and  strength  in  the  pulpit/'  and  says  he  ''was 
in  request  for  supplying  pulpits  out  of  town."     It  is  well 
that     seminary    students     should    preach   somewhat   fre- 
quently, not  for  practice  and  criticism  before  a  class,  but 
as  actual  preaching  to  a  real  congregation.     They  can  thus 
add  greatly  to  the  evangelizing  and  pastoral  work  of  the 
city  and  vicinity,  and  in  this  day  of  fast  trains  can  go  to 
distances  of  a  hundred  miles  or  more.     In  every  theolo- 
gical school  there  are  doubtless  some  students  who  spend 
too  much  time  in  preaching,  especially  when  they  become 
pastors,  and  must  hold  protracted  meetings.     But  on  the 
whole  it  is  believed  that  students  should  be  encouraged 
to  preach,  for  they  may  do  good  to  others,  and  gain  benefit 
to  themselves.     The   religious  fervor  in  which  a  young 
man  gave  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  will  often 
be  best  maintained  by  actual  preaching,  or  at  any  rate  by 
teaching  in  mission  Sunday-schools  and  the  like.     Theo- 
logical studies  ought  to  be  pursued  throughout  as  having 
a  practical  aim;  and  this  aim  is  best  kept  in  view  by  the 
student  who  is  doing  some  actual  ministerial  work.     Be- 
sides,   the   pecuniary  compensation  which    is    sometimes 
received  will  enable  a  man  to  continue  his  studies  without 
depressing  want   or  extreme  dependence  upon   the   gene 
rosity  of  others.     Mr.  Boyce's  means  are  well  known  to 
have  been  ample;  but  through  life  he  welcomed,  and  indeed 
required,    suitable  compensation   for   ministerial   service, 
because  he  would  have  just  that  much  more  to  give  away, 
and  because  he  was  not  willing  to  encourage  a  church  in 
the  neglect  of  its  own  duty  to  support  the  ministry. 

The  vacation  in  the  summer  of  1850  was  spent  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Boyce  with  her  relatives  in  Virginia,  chiefly 
with  her  uncle,  Burwell  Ficklen,  in  Fredericksburg,  and 
her  uncle,  George  Ficklen,  at  Thompsonville,  in  Culpeper 
County,  and  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Brown,  who  lived  in  the  same 
neighborhood.     These  were  all  families  of  high  standing 


80  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

and  large  hospitality,  where  many  agreeable  acquaintances 
were  to  be  made,  besides  the  circle  of  kinsfolk.  It  was  a 
delightful  way  to  spend  vacation.  The  Piedmont  Coun- 
ties of  Virginia,  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  are  a  singularly 
healthy  region,  half  way  betw^een  Xorth  and  South,  half 
way  between  sea-coast  and  mountain.  In  summer  weather, 
to  ride  or  drive  over  beautiful  hills  and  vales,  gazing  at 
will  upon  the  deep-blue  mountain  range  on  the  west,  and 
to  visit  the  large  country  houses  and  large-hearted  country 
folk,  must  be  healthy  in  every  sense.  Our  young  couple 
were  both  remarkably  adapted  to  enjo}"  such  a  series  of 
visits,  and  to  brighten  life  for  all  with  whom  they  met. 
Few  men  so  promptly  win  and  so  permanently  hold  the 
confidence  and  affection  of  others  as  did  James  P.  Boyce. 
Highly  cordial  in  manner  and  manifestly  sincere,  big- 
hearted  and  considerate,  overflowing  with  vitality,  and 
yet  full  of  gentle  courtesy  and  abounding  in  delicate  tact, 
he  seemed  perfectly  at  ease,  and  made  all  around  feel  at 
ease,  alike  in  the  palaces  of  the  rich  and  in  the  cottages  of 
the  poor.  One  fancies  there  must  still  be  persons  in  Cul- 
peper  and  m  Fredericksburg  who  remember  that  summer 
visit  of  their  gifted  and  charming  young  cousins  as  an 
epoch  of  rare  enjoyment. 

This  region  was  full  of  Baptist  churches.  A  sermon 
remains,  indorsed  by  Boyce  as  first  preached  at  Mount  Le- 
banon church,  Rappahannock  County,  Va.,  August  11,  and 
at  Fredericksburg,  August  25,  1850.  It  contains  glowing 
expressions  about  the  beauties  of  Nature,  which  leave  little 
doubt  that  it  was  written  in  Culpeper,  amid  the  beautiful 
hills  and  in  sight  of  the  beautiful  mountains;  for  Prince- 
ton, with  all  its  celebrity  and  advantages,  lies  in  a  flat 
and  dull  country.  It  is  always  pleasant  when  the  thoughts 
of  poet  or  speaker  take  shape  and  color  from  the  immediate 
surroundings.  This  sermon  is  on  John  iii.  16,  ''For  Grod 
so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son," 
etc.      The    introduction  is  excellent,   and  the  plan  good. 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.         81 

There  is  perhaps  too  much  of  theological  discussion  about 
the  divine  nature  and  purposes,  and  the  relations  of  the 
Father  to  the  Son,  for  a  discourse  meant  to  be  thoroughly 
practical.  It  often  requires  considerable  experience  before 
the  ministerial  student  can  avoid  carrying  unchanged  into 
the  pulpit  the  thoughts  and  methods  which  have  deeply 
interested  him  in  the  lecture-room.  But  the  fault  in  this 
case  is  at  any  rate  not  serious.  The  sermon  is  earnest, 
and  aims  at  practical  results ;  and  it  can  hardly  have  failed 
to  have  been  heard  with  great  interest,  when  read  in  the 
sonorous  and  musical  tones,  and  with  the  impressive  and 
engaging  aspect,  of  the  young  preacher.^  After  leaving 
Virginia  he  visited  New  York  city,  and  attended  a  meet- 
ing of  his  class  at  Brown  University,  introducing  his  wife 
to  his  classmates. 

Through  his  first  letter  from  Princeton  in  September  we 
learn  that  this  summer  travelling  had  occupied  more  tlian 
four  months.  On  every  Sunday  but  three  he  had  preached, 
and  had  enjoyed  much  time  for  general  reading.  His 
health  was  now  excellent.  He  had  decided  to  carrj^  on 
the  third  year's  work  together  with  that  of  the  second  year, 
and  was  beginning  to  plan  for  the  next  summer,  wlien  he 
should  leave  Princeton.  If  no  immediate  opening  for  use- 
fulness should  be  found  in  South  Carolina,  he  thought  of 
going  to  Halle,  in  Germany,  especially  to  study  German 
and  Hebrew;  or,  to  avoid  separation  from  his  wife,  he  might 
spend  several  months  in  some  ISTortliern  city,  and  there 

1  He  must  have  left  Culpeper  for  Fredericksburg  about  August  20. 
Ten  days  later,  the  writer  of  this  memoir,  having  been  graduated  in 
June  at  tlie  University  of  Virginia,  and  gone  to  visit  his  kindred  in 
Culpeper,  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Shiloh  Association  at  a  place  only 
four  or  five  miles  from  Mr.  George  Ficklen's,  and  was  frightened  by 
being  asked  to  preach.  If  Boyce  had  remained  a  little  longer  he  would 
have  attended  also,  for  he  was  fond  of  Associations,  and  two,  who  were 
destined  to  toil  so  long  together,  would  have  met  years  before  they  did 
meet.  Hawthorne  has  a  quaint  story  to  illustrate  how  often  things 
come  very  near  happening,  and  do  not  happen. 

G 


82  MEMOIR  OF   JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

study  the  same  languages.  Two  weeks  later  he  is  still 
considering  where  he  shall  settle  as  a  minister.  If  there 
is  no  available  place  in  South  Carolina,  he  would  be 
willing  to  labor  near  Providence,  R.  I.,  or  else  he  will  go 
West,  having  had  already  an  informal  invitation  to  St. 
Louis.  His  present  studies  (probably  meaning  especially 
Theology  and  Homiletics)  have  impressed  on  him  afresh 
the  great  importance  of  the  ministry.  He  feels  deeply 
unworthy  to  be  an  ambassador  for  God,  not  competent  to 
speak  words  on  which  must  depend  men's  happiness  or 
misery,  according  as  they  shall  believe  them.  He  envies 
his  correspondent  the  ministerial  usefulness  already  at- 
tained, and  longs  to  equal  him,  —  yea,  wishes  he  could  do 
more  than  man  ever  did,  in  saving  souls  through  the  grace 
of  Grod.  He  is  engaged  in  anxious  self-examination  as  to 
the  reality  of  his  call  to  be  a  minister.  In  December  he 
expresses  great  regret  at  learning  that  all  the  pamphlets, 
etc.,  he  left  at  home  have  somehow  been  destroyed.  He  was 
through  life  very  solicitous  to  preserve  every  pamphlet  or 
periodical,  and  bequeathed  to  the  Seminary  a  very  large 
and  valuable  collection  of  these,  along  with  his  theolo- 
gical library.  This  early  loss  included  all  his  college 
addresses,  and  some  sermons,  with  valued  letters,  etc.  He 
is  rejoiced  to  hear  that  Mr.  Tupper  has  been  preaching  on 
Sunday  afternoons  to  the  negroes,  including  a  large  number 
of  hired  men  engaged  in  building  a  railroad,  and  urges 
him  to  continue  this,  if  his  health  will  possibly  allow. 
"The  Lord  will  bless  your  labors  to  them.  Teach  them 
as  well  as  preach  to  them.  You  know  I  have  long  thought 
that  for  such  congregations  there  should  be  given  a  great 
deal  of  exposition,  such  as  is  suitable  to  explain  and  cause 
them  to  remember  the  sacred  text.  I  should  delight  to 
preach  to  them  myself.  I  think  that  while  we  from  the 
South  should  support  our  mission  to  Africa,  we  should 
also  remember  Africa  at  home.  Let  us  teach  them,  preach 
to  them,   bear  with  them,  explain  to  them,  though  they 


AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.  83 

may  be  slow  of  heart  to  believe.  May  Grod  bless  your 
efforts,  and  those  of  all  who  attempt  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  these  poor  of  our  land." 

Mr.  Boyce  left  Princeton  somewhat  before  the  close  of 
the  session,  May  1st.  As  a  matter  of  course  he  received 
no  diploma,  since  he  did  not  remain  till  the  end  of  the 
course.  He  was  always  satisfied  that  he  learned  more  by 
the  plan  pursued  than  if  he  had  entered  the  middle  year 
(making  up  the  Hebrew  by  private  work),  which  would 
have  given  him  the  regular  graduation.  He  spent  two  or 
three  months  in  New  York,  devoting  himself  to  a  thorough 
review  of  his  theological  studies.  He  considered  the 
question  of  going  to  study  in  Germany,  but  concluded 
that  he  must  now  begin  ministerial  work.  Writing  to 
Mr.  Tupper  in  March,  he  expresses  a  deep  sense  of  un- 
worthiness,  but  a  strong  desire  to  be  the  means  of  saving 
souls  and  glorifying  Christ. 

In  July  we  find  him  at  Washington,  Ga.,  considering 
an  invitation  to  become  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at 
Columbia,  S.  C.  The  church  records  show  that,  August  9, 
they  received  a  letter  from  him  accepting  the  pastoral 
charge,  to  take  effect  1st  October. 

In  the  summer  of  1851  Mr.  Ker  Boyce  made  a  trip  to 
Europe,  accompanied  by  his  youngest  children,  Ker  and 
Lizzie;  but  we  have  no  details.  The  desire  to  visit 
Europe  grew  upon  James  through  all  the  years,  but  had  to 
be  denied  till  near  the  close  of  his  life, —  one  of  the  many 
sacrifices  he  made  for  the  work  of  theological  education. 


84  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 


CHAPTER   YII. 


C'^OLUMBIA,  the  capital  of  South  Carolina  since  1790, 
J  is  one  hundred  miles  northwest  from  Charleston,  on 
the  Congaree  River.  This  river  is  formed  by  the  junction 
of  the  Broad  and  the  Saluda,  and  is  navigable  to  the  rapids 
which  lie  just  below  the  junction.  Hence  the  location  of 
the  city,  and  marked  advantages  in  the  way  of  water-power, 
never  realized  till  recently.  The  population  in  1851,  when 
Mr.  Boyce  became  pastor,  was  about  seven  thousand.  There 
was  a  railwaj^  to  Charleston,  which  presently  made  a  junc- 
tion with  a  railway  leading  northward  by  Wilmington, 
N.  C,  and  lower  down  with  another  leading  westward  by 
Augusta  and  Atlanta.  Of  late  years  Columbia  has  become 
quite  a  railroad  centre,  and  there  has  been  a  marked 
growth  in  manufacturing  and  in  population. 

The  city  is  in  a  healthy  region.  The  ridge  of  sand  and 
pines,  which  near  Augusta  has  become  so  famous  at  Aiken, 
the  home  of  consumptives,  extends  northeastward  so  as  to 
include  the  neighborhood  of  Columbia.  The  sand  absorbs 
moisture  so  as  to  dr3^  the  atmosphere,  and  the  pine-trees 
take  out  malarious  elements,  so  that  in  this  region  persons 
having  weak  lungs  in  early  ^^ears  have  lived  a  comparatively 
long  and  vigorous  life. 

Columbia  was  already  quite  a  handsome  Southern  town. 
The  spacious  streets  were  well  shaded,  some  of  them  hav- 
ing not  onl}^  trees  along  the  sidewalks,  but  a  double  row 
along  the  centre,  with  a  walk  between,  as  in  Augusta, 
Savannah,  and  other  Southern  cities,  and  in  Commonwealth 
Avenue,  Boston.     There  were  many  handsome  residences, 


PASTOR  AT  COLUMBIA.  85 

built  in  the  Southern  style,  with  large  rooms  and  ample 
windows,  and  with  broad  porticos  or  verandas,  sometimes 
on  all  four  sides  of  the  house,  and  even  repeated  for  the 
second  story.  The  principal  dwellings  were  surrounded 
by  extensive  grounds  filled  with  trees,  shrubbery,  and 
flowers.  It  is  difficult  for  one  who  has  not  seen  them  to 
imagine  the  delightsomeness  of  these  Southern  abodes, 
found  often  in  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  town.  From 
the  blazing  sun  you  passed  into  an  atmosphere  of  de- 
licious coolness,  delicately  perfumed  by  the  odor  of  grow- 
ing flowers  that  entered  at  every  window.  The  family 
were  often  highly  educated,  and  always  had  in  a  high  de- 
gree the  charming  manners  of  an  aristocratic  society.  The 
hospitality  seemed  j^erfect.  The  memory  of  even  brief 
visits  to  those  noble  Southern  homes  bears  now  a  touch  of 
romance,  like  the  history  of  the  old  French  noblesse,  and 
something  like  the  stories  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  Prob- 
ably the  most  notable  residence  in  Columbia  was  the 
famous  Hampton  House,  built  by  the  second  Wade  Hamp- 
ton, whose  father  was  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  army, 
and  general  in  the  War  of  1812,  who  was  himself  aide  to 
General  Jackson  at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  whose 
son,  of  the  same  name,  is  the  Confederate  general  and 
United  States  Senator,  —  all  three  celebrated  for  skilful 
horsemanship,  all  gifted  and  gallant  soldiers,  all  capital 
specimens  of  the  Southern  gentleman,  and  born  leaders  of 
men.  The  Hampton  House  and  its  grounds  are  said  to 
have  cost  $60,000,  which  was  then  a  large  sum  of  money. 
Around  Columbia  in  various  directions  are  low  and  pleas- 
ing hills,  which,  with  the  river  scenery,  make  fine  drives, 
such  as  Boyce  delighted  in. 

The  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  possessed  unusual 
powers,  electing  not  only  governor  and  judges  and  senators, 
but  the  electors  for  president,  and  also  appointing  all  man- 
ner of  county  officials.  This  gave  dignity  to  the  post  of 
State  representative  or   senator,  and    so  the   Legislature 


86  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

included  many  of  the  leading  planters.  These,  with  the 
governor  and  other  members  of  the  State  government,  who 
were  apt  to  be  wealth}^,  constituted  every  winter  a  very 
attractive  social  circle  in  Columbia,  often  occupying 
handsome  dwellings  of  their  own,  and  dispensing  a  lavish 
and  refined  hospitality. 

The  State  sustained  in  Columbia  a  military  school,  called 
the  Arsenal,  for  the  first  and  second  years  of  study,  the 
two  higher  years  being  taken  at  the  Citadel,  in  Charleston. 
Here  also  was  the  South  Carolina  College,  founded  in  1804. 
We  have  seen  that  among  its  alumni  were  J.  L.  Petigru 
and  Basil  Manly,  and  may  add  that  they  included  by  1851 
a  great  many  men  of  whom  South  Carolina  is  justly  proud, 
in  every  leading  pursuit  of  life.  Among  them  was  the 
celebrated  William  C.  Preston,  who  in  the  United  States 
Senate  and  elsewhere  was  recognized  as  almost  unrivalled 
in  oratorical  splendor  and  passion  (not  strange  in  the  son 
of  Patrick  Henry's  sister),  and  who  was  just  ending  in 
1851  a  term  of  six  years  as  president  of  the  college.  His 
wide  popularity,  and  the  charm  of  his  personal  influence, 
had  attracted  many  students ;  and  though  not  remarkable 
for  teaching  power  or  general  administrative  talent,  he 
had  given  to  the  college  great  celebrity  and  a  commanding 
influence.  The  famous  James  H.  Thornwell,  D.  D.,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  Presbj^terian  ministers  and  educators 
in  America,  was  also  an  alumnus  of  the  college,  and  had 
for  thirteen  years  been  professor,  at  first  of  Logic  and 
Metaphysics,  and  afterwards  of  Sacred  Literature,  with 
the  additional  and  influential  office  of  chaplain.  He  had 
resigned  in  May,  1851,  and  gone  to  Charleston  to  be 
pastor,  but  was  destined  soon  to  return. 

There  was  also  at  Columbia  a  Presbyterian  Theological 
Seminary,  which  had  been  twenty  years  in  existence,  and 
was  in  a  prosperous  condition.  Among  the  professors  was 
Dr.  George  Howe,  a  good  Biblical  scholar  and  a  very  gifted 
teacher,  of  whom  Mr.  Boj^ce  oft*en  spoke  with  admiration 


PASTOR  AT  COLUMBIA.  87 

in  subsequent  years;   and  from  1853  Dr.  B.  M.  Palmer, 
who  since  1856  has  been  pastor  in  New  Orleans,  and  one 
of  the  most  eminent  preachers  in  America.     As  a  matter 
of  course,  the  city  had   a  very  flourishing   Presbyterian 
church.     The  Scotchmen  and  Scotch-Irish,  who  had  been 
so  influential  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  State,  were 
generally  faithful  to  Presbyterianism,  and  so  were  many 
of  the  Huguenot  families;   others  of  the  Huguenots,  to- 
gether with  the  leading  English  families  among  the  early 
settlers,    attached   themselves    to   the    Epis€opal   Church. 
These  retained  the  social  prestige  brought  over  from  the 
English  Establishment,   as  Presbyterians  still  held   the 
educational  and  social  influen-ce  which  they  had  brought 
from  Scotland.     Both  of  these  important  religious  bodies 
have  endeavored  in  America  to  confine  their  ministry  to 
men  regularly  trained   for   the   purpose.     This   has   pre- 
vented their  taking  hold  upon  the  American  people  at 
large,  —  even  as  the  lawyers  and  doctors  of  this  country 
have  necessarily  included  a  very  large  proportion  of  men 
irregularly  trained;  and  the  great  popular  denominations 
have  been  those  that  encouraged  every  man  to  preach  who 
felt  moved  to   do  so,  and  whom  the  people  were  willing 
to  hear.     But  the  fact  that  Presbyterian  and  Episcopal 
clergymen  were   regarded  as  an   educated  class  added  to 
the  influences  above  mentioned  in  giving  those  religious 
denominations   a  powerful  hold  upon  American  cities  and 
towns,    which   continues  to  the  present  day.     About  the 
middle  of  this  century,  just  at  the  time  when  James  P. 
Boyce  began  his  work  as  a  pastor,  we  can  see  signs  of  a 
marked  advance   among  Methodists,   Baptists,   and  other 
denominations,  in  the  way  of  having  a  larger  proportion 
of  their  ministers  to  be  men  thoroughly  trained  for  that 
calling.     The  Baptist  ministry  had  always  included  some 
such  men,  in  South  Carolina  and  in  all  the  States ;   but 
about  this  time  there  was  a  definite  forward  impulse. 
The  Baptist  church  at  Columbia  comprised  in  1851  but 


88  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

few  members,  none  of  them  possessing  much  of  social  in- 
fluence or  wealth.  The  house  of  worship  was  a  small  brick 
building,  presenting  a  very  plain  gable  front.  When 
young  men  reared  in  Baptist  families  came  from  the  coun- 
try or  from  Charleston  to  reside  in  the  capital,  there  was 
everything  to  draw  them  away  from  the  Baptist  church  to 
the  other  denominations  of  whom  we  have  spoken;  and 
yet  far-seeing  men  could  perceive  that  it  was  wise  to  be- 
stow special  labor  upon  this  little  church.  If  a  minister 
of  ability  could  manage  to  live  there,  faithful  work  would 
tell ;  for  the  Baptists  were  numerous  in  some  parts  of  the 
State,  and  beginning  to  grow  almost  everywhere.  Mr. 
Boyce's  predecessor,  Kev.  H.  A.  Duncan,  was  a  man  of 
talents  and  worth,  but  doubtless  found  it  impossible  to 
sustain  himself  on  the  meagre  salary.  Mr.  Boyce  had  the 
advantage  of  a  large  private  income,  and  also  of  personal 
acquaintance  and  influence  in  the  Charleston  Association, 
to  which  the  church  at  Columbia  belonged,  and  which 
might  be  induced  to  give  aid  and  comfort.  It  was  under- 
stood before  he  accepted  the  call  to  be  pastor  that  an  effort 
would  soon  be  made  to  erect  a  better  house  of  worship,  for 
which  it  was  believed  that  he  could  obtain  assistance  in 
other  parts  of  the  State. 

So  we  find  our  young  minister  entering  upon  his  duties 
as  pastor  in  Columbia,  Oct.  1,  1851.  Two  weeks  after,  he 
writes  that  he  is  much  pleased  with  the  work.  The  con- 
gregations are  very  small,  but  he  hopes,  by  the  blessing  of 
God,  to  be  useful.  In  ^JSTovember  he  was  ordained,  the  pres- 
bytery comprising  J.  R.  Kendrick  (of  Charleston),  John 
Culpeper,  John  M.  Timmons,  and  the  famous  Dr.  Thomas 
Curtis,  whom  we  shall  meet  later  in  these  Memoirs.  Dr. 
Curtis  asked  the  candidate  for  ordination  if  he  proposed  to 
make  a  life-long  matter  of  preaching;  and  he  answered, 
■'  Yes,  provided  I  do  not  become  a  professor  of  theology. '^ 
These  early  jears  of  ministry  present,  as  frequently 
happens,  but  little  to  record.     As  he  is  now  near  to  Mr. 


PASTOR   AT   COLUMBIA.  89 

Tiipper  and  they  often  meet,  the  letters  between  them  are 
few.  We  may  be  sure  that  he  was  diligently  studying 
theology,  reading  widely  in  his  own  already  large  collec- 
tion of  books  and  in  other  accessible  libraries,  and  faith- 
fully preparing  his  sermons.  Besides  the  Seminary,  the 
College  library  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  South.  Board- 
ing at  the  principal  hotel,  he  had  opportunity  for  making 
pleasant  acquaintance  with  legislators  and  other  leading 
men.  His  father  being  known  as  the  wealthiest  man  in 
Carolina,  and  he  himself  being  uncommonly  attractive 
and  agreeable,  while  his  wife  possessed  like  qualities  in  a 
remarkable  degree,  he  would  rapidly  gain  consideration  in 
important  quarters.  Yet  these  things  did  not  at  all  hin- 
der his  visits  to  the  humblest  homes  of  his  congregation, 
nor  his  personal  influence  over  all  who  attended  his  minis- 
try; for  he  had  rare  power  of  making  himself  easy  and 
agreeable  among  all,  and  he  was  deeply  earnest  in  the  desire 
t.o  be  useful  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  In  December  Col- 
onel Preston  left  the  presidency  of  the  college,  on  account 
of  ill  health,  and  Dr.  Thornwell  yielded  to  much  urgency, 
and,  giving  up  again  his  cherished  desire  to  be  a  pastor, 
returned  to  Columbia  and  became  president.  As  a  gradu- 
ate of  Princeton,  the  son  of  Ker  Boyce,  and  an  attractive 
gentleman,  the  young  Baptist  pastor  must  have  early  be- 
come acquainted  with  this  great  man,  whose  sermon  in  a 
Charleston  pulpit  had  so  charmed  him  in  boyhood,  and 
whose  influence  must  have  conduced  to  the  promotion  of 
profound  thinking,  wide  reading,  and  great  earnestness  in 
the  gospel  ministry. 

On  May  13,  1852,  the  church,  as  its  meagre  records 
show,  granted  the  pastor  three  months,  or  longer  if  neces- 
sary, to  visit  other  churches  in  the  State,  and  solicit  con- 
tributions towards  building  a  new  house  of  worship.  The 
pulpit  was  to  be  supplied  by  his  early  friend  and  fellow-stu- 
dent. Rev.  J.  K.  Mendenhall.  We  know  that  in  his  private 
carriage  Mr.  Boyce  drove  over  large  portions  of  the  State. 


90  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

The  contributions  pledged  do  not  seem  to  have  been  suffi- 
cient at  that  time  for  the  purpose,  as  the  new  church  was 
not  built  till  several  years  later.  In  the  summer  of  this 
year  he  was  thinking  of  purchasing  a  certain  house  and 
fitting  it  up  for  his  residence.  In  April,  1853,  various 
letters  to  Mr.  Tupper  in  Charleston  contain  nothing  but 
requests  to  select  this  article,  and  order  that,  for  his 
house.  It  was  his  fancy  that  the  dwelling  should  be  com- 
pletely finished  and  furnished  when  his  young  wife  first 
entered  it;  and  those  who  knew  him  well  can  imagine  the 
pleasure  he  took  in  arranging  all  details  and  perfecting  all 
preparations  for  their  home  life.  Here  they  lived  for  more 
than  two  j^ears,  delighting  to  entertain  their  friends  and 
kindred.  In  the  summer  of  1853  Mr.  Boyce  went  north- 
ward. He  had  stipulated  with  the  church  in  the  begin- 
ning that  he  should  have  one  month  of  vacation  every 
summer,  such  definite  arrangements  being  at  that  time 
rare  in  Southern  churches.  During  this  trip  to  the  North 
he  attended  the  meeting  of  his  class  at  Brown  University, 
now  six  years  after  their  graduation,  and  took  the  degree 
of  A.  M.  in  course. 

On  Jan.  11,  1853,  the  church  records  show  that  the 
pastor  succeeded,  after  months  of  persuasion,  in  intro- 
ducing a  melodeon  to  help  the  singing;  and  the  next  year 
he  secured  a  choir-leader,  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars per  annum.  It  requires  time  and  patience  to  alter 
any  fixed  usage  of  a  Baptist  church;  and  this  respect  for 
established  custom  is,  on  the  whole,  a  beneficial  check 
upon  the  action  of  a  thoroughly  free  organization  in  a 
period  enamoured  of  progress. 

Throughout  these  four  years  of  pastoral  work  at  Colum- 
bia, the  young  minister  was  encouraged  by  a  steady  growth 
of  the  little  church.  We  have  seen  that  the  white  peoj^le 
of  the  city  were  mainly  attached  to  other  churches,  and  so 
the  material  available  for  him  was  not  large.  But  there 
was  a  marked  increase  in  numbers,  and  still  more  in  lib- 


PASTOR  AT  COLUMBIA.  91 

erality  and  other  Christian  graces.  It  mnst  have  been 
especially  gratifying  that  he  was  enabled  to  get  a  strong 
hold  upon  the  colored  people.  We  have  seen  him  dwell- 
ing upon  this  subject  when  editor,  and  exhorting  Mr. 
Tupper,  in  one  of  his  letters  from  Princeton,  to  work 
faithfully  among  the  negroes,  giving  them  much  oral 
explanation  of  the  Scriptures.  He  doubtless  pursued  this 
course  himself,  striving  not  only  to  touch  their  religious 
susceptibilities,  but  to  give  them  helpful  instruction  in 
the  way  of  salvation  and  the  fundamental  duties  of  a 
Christian  life.  A  wealthy  and  highly  educated  young 
minister  was  fitly  employed  in  such  labor  for  the  benefit 
of  the  slaves.  Nor  was  this  a  singular  case.  While  the 
reading  world  was  just  then  becoming  fascinated  and 
enkindled  by  the  high-wrought  pictures  of  '^  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  published  in  1852,  and  deeply  impressed  with 
the  real  and  supposed  evils  of  slavery;  while  events  were 
rapidly  moving  towards  the  great  and  awful  conflict  of 
ten  years  later,  numerous  ministers  throughout  the  South, 
chiefly  Baptist  and  Methodist,  were  faithfully  laboring 
to  convert  and  instruct  the  vast  multitude  of  colored 
people  among  whom  they  found  themselves  called  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  By  no  means  all  was  done  that 
ought  to  have  been  done;  when  and  where  has  this  been 
the  case  about  anything  ?  But  thousands  and  ten  thou- 
sands of  Christian  men  and  women  did  feel  the  burden  of 
these  lowly  souls  laid  upon  themselves,  did  toil  faithfully 
and  often  with  great  sacrifice  to  bring  them  to  the  Saviour, 
and  lovingly  to  guide  their  weak  and  ignorant  steps  in 
the  paths  of  Christian  life.  Certainly  there  was  among 
them,  in  some  respects,  a  very  low  standard  of  Christian 
morality,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  ignorant  converts  of 
any  degraded  race.  But  there  are  many  still  living  who 
can  testify,  from  personal  observation  and  effort,  that  not 
a  few  of  these  negro  Christians  gave  real  and  gratifying 
evidence    of   being   Christians    indeed.      They  were   not 


92  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

black  angels,  as  some  romantic  readers  of  romance  half 
imagined,  nor  jet  black  demons,  as  some  who  hated  them 
then  and  now  would  have  us  believe;  they  were  and  are 
simply  black  men,  from  among  the  lowest  races  of  man- 
kind, yet  by  no  means  beyond  the  reach  of  saving  Chris- 
tian truth  and  loving  Christian  culture.  Some  of  us 
remember  them  with  strange  tenderness  of  feeling,  like 
that  of  foreign  missionaries  for  their  lowl}^  converts,  and 
find  it  painful  to  see  them  grossly  misrepresented,  either 
by  fanciful  eulogj^  or  foolish  censure.  And  now  that  the 
long  conflict  is  long  past,  and  we  are  facing  the  most 
remarkable  problem  that  any  civilized  nation  was  ever 
called  to  attempt,  —  the  problem  of  slowly  and  patiently 
lifting  these  people  up  to  all  they  can  reach,  —  it  were  well 
if  mutual  misjudgments  could  be  laid  aside,  if  the  faithful 
work  of  many  Christians  in  those  trying  jesivs  could  be 
on  all  sides  appreciated,  and  the  whole  undertaking  before 
us  could  be  estimated  in  part  by  its  best  results,  and  not 
simply  by  its  worst  difficulties.  — ' 

From  this  ministry  of  four  years  there  remain  notes  of 
several  sermons,  and  a  good  many  sermons  written  in 
full.  He  usually  prepared  by  making  a  rather  extended 
sketch,  —  what  lawyers  call  a  "  brief,"  —  which  he  kept 
before  him  when  speaking.  Most  of  these  were  allowed 
to  perish  in  the  course  of  years.  From  the  outset  we  find 
him  grasping  with  decided  vigor  the  thought  or  several 
thoughts  of  the  text,  explaining  and  strongly  vindicating 
the  great  doctrines  of  Scripture,  applying  the  truth  to  his 
hearers  with  direct  and  fervid  exhortation.  There  is  still 
not  much  of  illustration,  but  now  and  then  an  expanded 
figure  that  shows  imaginative  powers  worth}^  to  be  oftener 
employed.  The  style  is  sometimes  negligent,  but  rarely 
fails  to  be  lucid  and  vigorous.  Above  all,  the  sermons 
show  a  man  very  anxious  to  do  good;  they  belong  to 
''an  earnest  ministr3\"  In  later  3'ears  we  shall  meet 
several  sermons  that  will  recpiire  our  special  attention. 


PASTOR  AT   COLUMBIA.  93 

On  March  19,  1854,  occurred  the  death,  at  Columbia, 
of  Mr.  Ker  Boyce.  He  had  for  some  years  made  his  home 
at  Kalmia,  not  far  from  Aiken  and  Graniteville,  where 
he  had  a  delightful  residence,  shared  with  him  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  H.  A.  Tupper,  until  they  removed,  in  1853,  to 
Washington,  Ga.  Going  to  Columbia  on  a  visit  to  James, 
he  was  taken  ill  with  heart-troubles,  and  after  lingering 
ten  days  he  died  on  a  Sunday  at  midnight.  His  children 
had  all  gathered,  and  it  is  said  that  they  ^'confidently 
expected  his  recovery;  but  he  was  persuaded  of  his  ap- 
proaching death,  and  in  view  thereof  he  spoke  calmly  and 
with  resignation,  expressing  his  hope  and  trust  in  the 
mercy  of  Christ."  Dr.  Tupper  says  that  during  their 
residence  together  at  Kalmia  he  showed  great  love  of 
the  Bible,  and  special  interest  in  the  family  worship. 
Numerous  letters  to  the  Tuppers  during  1850-1854  have 
been  preserved,  and  not  only  abound  in  the  warmest  ex- 
pressions of  fatherly  interest  and  affection,  but  often 
speak  in  a  distinctly  religious  tone. 

Obituaries  in  numerous  papers  of  South  Carolina  and 
other  States,  and  personal  recollections  of  various  friends, 
all  go  to  show  that  Ker  Boyce  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
abilities  and  character.  His  achievements  in  the  business 
world  would  necessarily  imply  this;  for  causes  have  to  be 
equal  to  effects,  and  he  who  has  through  a  long  life 
achieved  great  things  must  necessarily  be  at  least  in 
some  respects  a  great  man.  Mr.  Boyce  was  especially 
noted  for  his  insight  into  the  character  and  abilities  of 
men.  To  an  extent  quite  unknown  before  that  time  in 
Charleston,  he  trusted  his  business  associates  and  em- 
ployees. People  observed  that  notwithstanding  predic- 
tions to  the  contrary,  the  enterprises  in  which  he  was 
interested  almost  always  proved  successful;  and  it  slowly 
dawned  upon  them  that  he  was  safe  in  trustinc^  men, 
because  he  selected  men  who  could  be  trusted.  We  liave 
already  seen  that  he  was  a  man  of  great  nerve  and  pluck. 


94  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

wlio  in  time  of  commercial  panic  never  feared,  but  held 
up  things.  It  is  said  that  he  had  an  extraordinary  mem- 
ory for  business  matters,  keeping  details  in  his  head,  and 
never  forgetting  his  business  engagements.  A  marked 
peculiarity  was  the  ease  with  which  he  left  all  business 
anxieties  behind  him  at  the  close  of  the  day.  He  some- 
times said  that  in  shutting  the  doors  of  his  bank  he  shut 
in  all  his  worries;  and  when  in  the  family  circle  you 
could  hardly  have  imagined  that  this  was  a  great  finan- 
cier, daily  engaged  in  large  transactions,  for  he  seemed 
as  lively  and  gay  as  the  children.  This  power  of  com- 
pletely throwing  off  one's  cares,  and  heartily  enjoying  the 
cheery  and  humorous  side  of  life,  has  been  observable  in 
many  of  those  who  have  endured  great  labors  and  carried 
through  great  undertakings  in  the  world.  After  the  death 
of  James  P.  Boyce,  his  colleague.  Dr.  Basil  Manly,  wrote 
as  follows  in  a  newspaper  article:  "My  memory,  as  a 
child,  of  Mr.  Ker  Boyce,  is  of  a  most  dignified,  vigorous, 
commanding  figure.  The  cast  of  his  countenance  and  the 
peculiar  compression  of  his  lips  indicated  settled  convic- 
tion and  determination,  while  his  penetrating  eye  showed 
the  intelligence  and  inquiring  mind  which  made  him  a 
power  in  the  city  and  the  State."  Portraits  show  that 
James  strikingly  resembled  his  father  in  personal  appear- 
ance; and  his  friends  are  well  aware,  as  his  whole  career 
shows,  that  there  was  also  a  marked  resemblance  in  many 
admirable  points  of  character. 

Mr.  Ker  Boyce  bequeathed  $20,000  to  the  Orphan  House 
in  Charleston, —  an  institution  highly  esteemed  in  the  city, 
—  and  $30,000  to  the  College  of  Charleston.  The  income 
of  this  latter  fund  was  to  be  used  in  aiding  needy  students, 
who  were  chosen  by  his  son  James  as  long  as  lie  lived, 
and  are  now  chosen  by  one  of  the  sisters.  His  large  estate 
was  left  under  the  control  of  a  son  only  twenty-seven  years 
old,  and  a  busy  and  faithful  minister  of  religion.  The 
associate  executors.   Judge  John  Belton  O'Neall,  Arthur 


PASTOR  AT  COLUMBIA. 


95 


G.  Eose,  Esq.  (who  afterwards  went  to  live  in  England), 
and  James  A.  Whiteside,  of  Tennessee,  are  said  to  have 
never  taken  any  part  in  the  management,  fully  sharing  the 
father's  confidence  in  his  son.  This  confidence  was  the 
more  remarkable,  as  much  of  the  estate  was  to  continue  in 
the  hands  of  his  executors  for  many  years,  the  final 
division  not  to  be  made  till  the  youngest  grandson  should 
come  of  age.  Through  all  the  trying  losses  of  the  war  time, 
and  all  the  solicitudes  of  the  years  that  followed  to  the  end 
of  his  life,  the  executor  bore  these  burdens  of  weighty 
responsibility. 

It  was  inevitable  that  he  should  need  some  time  for 
undivided  attention  to  the  settlement  of  so  large  an  estate. 
Accordingly,  the  church  records  show  that  on  April  8, 
1854,  he  asked  and  obtained  leave  of  absence  from  pastoral 
duties  until  October,  ''at  which  time  he  hoped  to  be  able 
to  resume  them,''  his  salary  to  be  used  in  securing  a 
supply.  The  letters  of  that  summer  to  H.  A.  Tupper  are 
almost  entirely  occupied  with  business  details.  Indeed, 
from  this  time  forward  he  had  to  write  so  many  business 
letters  that  there  was  seldom  opportunity  for  speaking  of 
general  matters  such  as  would  interest  the  readers  of  a 
Memoir.  In  November  he  was  chosen  moderator  of  the 
Charleston  Association,  thus  for  the  first  time  called  to 
exercise  his  remarkable  powers  as  a  presiding  officer,  which 
we  shall  have  frequent  occasion  to  observe  hereafter.  In 
that  year  Eev.  Edwin  T.  Winkler  became  pastor  in  Charles- 
ton, having  previously  served  two  years  as  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  S.  B.  Publication  Society,  and  editor  of 
the  ''Southern  Baptist."  The  frequent  meeting  thus 
occasioned  with  one  so  gifted  and  cultured  and  lovable 
must  have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  the  Columbia  pastor. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  came  out  Dr.  Thornwell's  "Dis- 
courses on  Truth,"  a  small  volume  of  sermons  which  had 
been  delivered  in  the  chapel  of  South  Carolina  College. 
These  made  a  profound  impression  on  some  young  pastors 


96  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

of  that  day,  which  might  well  be  deepened  in  the  case  of 
Mr.  Boyce  by  his  personal  acquaintance  with  the  author. 

During  that  winter  or  spring  there  were  probably 
negotiations  as  to  the  idea  of  Mr.  Boyce's  becoming  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  in  Furman  University  at  Greenville, 
S.  C,  the  health  of  Professor  Mims  having  hopelessly 
failed  ;  for  the  church  records  show  that  on  April  29th 
Boj'ce  tendered  his  resignation,  to  take  effect  October  1st. 
The  church  earnestly  sought  to  prevent  this  dissolution  of 
the  pastoral  relation,  but  on  May  6th  they  accepted  his 
resignation,  with  unusual  expressions  of  regret  and  affec- 
tion. They  had  indeed  unusual  cause,  apart  from  the 
pastor's  personal  worth  ;  for  he  showed  his  interest  in  the 
struggling  church  of  which  he  had  for  four  years  been 
pastor,  by  proposing  to  contribute  $500  towards  a  salary  of 
$1200  for  his  successor.^  We  know  also  of  a  promise  on 
his  part  to  contribute  $10,000  towards  a  new  house  of  wor- 
ship for  the  church,  whenever  they  should  be  prepared  to 
build, —  a  promise  dulj^  carried  out  a  few  years  later.  It 
was  probably  in  the  autumn  of  1854  that  he  also  promised 
to  aid  in  building  a  new  church  on  Citadel  Square,  in 
Charleston.  Mr.  Burckmyer,  who  had  married  his  sister, 
was  about  to  be  baptized,  and  consulted  James  B03  ce  and 
B.  C.  Pressley,  Esq.,  as  to  whether  he  should  join  the 
First  Church,  or  the  newer  church  on  Went  worth  Street. 
Pressley  said  he  should  do  neither,  but  took  them  out  to 
Citadel  Square,  and  showed  the  point  at  which  a  new  and 
elegant  church  building  ought  to  be  erected.  James 
approved  the  idea,  and  said  they  could  put  him  down  for 
$10,000.  The  movement  soon  began,  and  others  of  the 
Boyce  family  gave  $30,000  more  towards  erecting  what  was 
for  along  time,  and  is  perhaps.still,the  noblest  Baptist  house 
of  worship  in  the  South.  Let  it  not  be  imagined  that  our 
young  minister  was  thoughtlessly  giving  away  his  ample 

1  These  extracts  from  the  records  have  been  kindl)^  furnished  by 
Eev.  W.  C.  Lindsey,  D.D.,  now  pastor  of  the  church  at  Columbia. 


PASTOR   AT  COLUMBIA,  97 

inheritance.     He  gave  with  reflection  and  foresight,  as  we 
shall  find  him  continuing  to  do  through  life. 

In  May,  1855,  just  after  his  resignation  had  been 
accepted,  Mr.  Boyce  attended  the  Southern  Baptist  Con- 
vention (which  then  met  once  in  two  years)  at  Montgomery, 
Ala.  Some  of  us  were  on  the  long  journey  of  three  or  four 
days  from  Central  Virginia,  by  way  of  Wilmington  and 
Augusta.  At  a  point  some  hours  west  of  Augusta,  a 
branch  road  came  in  from  Washington,  Ga.,  and  several 
passengers  came  aboard  the  train,  among  them  a  young 
man  of  large  figure  and  smooth,  youthful  face,  at  whose 
entrance  the  Foreign  Mission  secretaries.  Dr.  James  B. 
Taylor  and  Dr.  A.  M.  Poindexter,  both  rose  eagerly,  and 
met  him  with  great  cordiality.  Presently  Poindexter 
came  and  sat  down  by  a  young  minister  of  the  company, 
and  said,  ''Yonder  is  a  man  I  want  you  to  know.  He 
is  a  minister  of  ability  and  thorough  education,  and  full 
of  noble  qualities.  His  father  was  a  man  of  great  wealth, 
and  he  is  now  very  generous  in  his  gifts.  He  is  going  to 
be  one  of  the  most  influential  of  all  Southern  Baptists.  I 
want  you  to  know  him."  At  the  introduction,  it  is  re- 
membered that  his  marked  heartiness  seemed  somehow 
a  little  clouded  by  a  certain  reserve.  It  was  not  thought 
by  the  person  introduced,  though  sometimes  thouglit  by 
others  in  after  years,  that  this  reserve  was  due  to  hauteur. 
All  who  knew  him  well  soon  came  to  understand  that  he 
had  simply  such  a  contempt  for  all  affected  cordiality  as 
sometimes  to  go  just  a  little  towards  the  opposite  extreme, 
and  thus  be  slightly  misunderstood.  He  was  in  fact,  from 
youth  to  age,  the  soul  of  cordial  kindness.  At  Mont- 
gomery the  Convention  appointed  a  Committee  to  investi- 
gate some  controversy  between  the  Foreign  Mission  Board 
and  Rev.  I.  J.  Roberts,  one  of  the  missionaries  to  China. 
The  details  of  the  controversy  would  be  of  no  importance 
now,  if  they  were  remembered.  The  Committee  examined 
very  carefully  the  whole  matter,  and  directed  Mr.  Boyce, 

7 


98  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

one  of  its  members,  to  draw  up  an  elaborate  report.  He 
sat  up  all  night  to  perform  the  task.  When  he  came  for- 
ward the  next  day  with  his  report,  his  commanding  figure, 
ringing  voice,  and  look  of  unpretending  genuineness 
and  broad  good  sense  made  an  impression  that  has  lasted; 
and  the  report  so  marshalled  the  facts,  and  explained  all 
the  matters  involved,  as  to  vindicate  the  Board,  without 
casting  any  painful  censure  upon  the  zealous  missionary. 
Poindexter  remarked  afterwards  that  he  had  scarcely  ever 
heard  a  report  of  a  committee  that  was  so  ably  written  and 
so  impressively  read.  Mr.  Bojce  was  then  twenty-eight 
years  old. 

It  may  be  well  enough  to  mention  that  at  this  meeting 
of  the  convention  some  of  us  for  the  first  time  encountered 
a  new  term,  and  an  idea  which  for  the  next  few  years 
awakened  no  small  controversy.  After  the  organization, 
some  one  offered,  as  usual,  a  resolution  inviting  ministers  of 
other  denominations  to  sit  with  us  and  participate  in  our 
deliberations.  This  was  at  once  sharpl}-  objected  to,  and 
there  arose  a  debate  which  lasted  a  whole  day.  Presently 
the  words  ^'Old  Landmark''  were  used;  and  some  of  us 
from  distant  portions  of  the  South,  upon  asking  what  in 
the  world  that  meant,  were  told  that  Rev.  J.  M.  Pendle- 
ton, of  Kentucky,  had  published  in  Nashville  a  tract 
entitled,  ^'An  Old  Landmark  Reset."  In  this  he  was 
said  to  have  maintained  that  it  was  a  former  custom  of 
Baptists  not  to  give  any  invitation  or  to  take  any  action 
which  might  seem  to  recognize  ministers  of  other  persua- 
sions as  in  a  just  sense  ministers.  These  were  also  the 
views  of  Rev.  J.  R.  Graves,  editor  of  the  ^'Tennessee  Bap- 
tist," published  at  Nashville.  These  honored  brethren, 
and  a  number  of  others  from  that  part  of  the  country, 
maintained  these  ''Landmark"  views  with  great  earnestness 
and  ability.  Those  who  held  a  different  view  appeared  in 
many  cases  to  be  taken  by  surprise,  through  the  novelty, 
as  it  seemed  to  them,  of  the  "  Old  Landmark;  "  and  they 


PASTOR  AT  COLUMBIA.  99 

did  not  always  agree  among  themselves,  nor  maintain  any 
well-considered  or  very  consistent  position.  After  the 
day's  discussion,  it  was  proposed  to  end  the  matter  by 
letting  the  resolution  be  withdrawn,  upon  the  understand- 
ing that  those  who  saw  no  objection  to  its  passage  would 
concede  thus  much  to  the  views  of  their  brethren  who 
objected  so  strongly.  Some  present  thought  already  that 
there  was  no  such  extreme  difference  of  opinion  among  us 
as  appeared  to  exist.  The  controversy  in  the  next  few 
years  rose  high,  and  in  some  quarters  threatened  division. 
But  it  has  now  long  been  felt  by  most  brethren  that  we 
could  agree  to  disagree  upon  the  matters  involved,  and 
that  the  great  bulk  of  us  were  really  not  very  far  apart. 


100  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

PROFESSOR   OF   THEOLOGY   IN   FURMAN   UNIVERSITY. 

FUEMAi^  University  had  grown  out  of  the  Furman 
Academy  and  Theological  Institution,  opened  at 
Edgefield  Court-House,  in  January,  1827. ^  The  South  Caro- 
lina Baptists  had  previously  aided  many  young  men  in 
preparing  for  the  ministry,  at  various  private  and  public 
institutions.  This  school  of  their  own  was  located  at 
Edgefield  in  the  hope  that  the  Georgia  Baptists  would 
unite  in  building  up  there  a  theological  seminary.  Two 
years  later  it  was  removed  to  the  High  Hills  of  Santee, 
as  exclusively  a  theological  school,  the  name  being  after- 
wards changed  to  the  Eurman  Theological  Institution. 
The  professors  were  Jesse  Hartwell  and  Samuel  Eurman, 
the  latter  being  a  son  of  the  famous  Richard  Eurman, 
l^astor  in  Charleston  during  the  Revolutionary^  days  and 
afterwards,  in  whose  honor  the  institution  was  named. 
Various  attempts  were  made  to  combine  with  the  theologi- 
cal a  classical  school,  having  at  one  time  a  Manual  Labor 
feature.  Tlie  theological  professors  for  some  j^ears  were 
Rev.  William  Hooper,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Reynolds, 
D.D.,  who  both  became  eminent  men.  Professor  J.  S. 
Mims  was  elected  in  1842,  James  C.  Eurman  in  1844,  and 
Peter  C.  Edwards  in  1846.  Mims  was  to  teach  Systematic 
Theology,  Edwards  the  Hebrew  Language  and  Biblical 
Exegesis,  and  Eurman  to  teach  Sacred  Rhetoric  and  Pas- 
toral Duties,  and  Ecclesiastical  History.  In  1850  it  was 
decided  to  remove  the  institution  to  the  town  of  Green- 

1  See  an  excellent  historical  sketch   by  Professor  H.    T.    Coolc  in 
the  "  Baptist  Courier  "  for  July  14,  1892. 


PROFESSOR  IN  FURMAN   UNIVERSITY.  101 

ville,  as  the  Theological  Department  of  a  new  Furman 
University,  which  was  Oi^ened  in  1851.  The  theological 
instruction  was  given  mainly  by  Professor  Minis,  as  Pro- 
fessors Furman  and  Edwards  were  chiefly  occupied  with 
the  instruction  of  the  general  classes  in  the  University. 
Professor  Mims  was  a  man  of  high  talents  and  good  educa- 
tion, diligent  in  study,  and  loved  as  a  teacher.  He  was 
a  native  of  North  Carolina,  interrupted  in  his  youthful 
studies,  and  much  hindered  through  life,  by  rather  feeble 
health.  After  studying  some  time  at  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  and  at  the  Furman  Institution,  he  was 
graduated  at  the  Newton  Theological  Institution,  near 
Boston.  He  strongly  opposed  the  usual  Calvinistic  view 
as  to  the  doctrine  of  Imputation,  and  defended  himself 
before  the  Trustees  of  the  Furman  Institution  in  1848,  in 
a  caustic  address  on  "Orthodoxy,"  which  was  published 
as  a  pamphlet.  This  probably  led  to  the  two  long  and 
elaborate  series  of  articles  on  Imputation  which  young 
James  Boyce  admitted  into  the  "  Southern  Baptist, "  while 
he  was  editor,  in  1849.  Professor  Mims's  health  quite  gave 
wsLj  during  the  session  of  1854-1855,  and  he  died  on 
June  14,  1855,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-eight.  Some 
books  that  came  from  his  collection  are  found  in  the  library 
of  the  S.  B.  T.  Seminary,  and  there  is  a  certain  touch  of 
inspiration,  a  trace  of  scholarly  enthusiasm  and  discrimi- 
nation, even  in  his  brief  marginal  notes. 

When  the  trustees  met,  in  July,  they  elected  James  P. 
Boyce  as  successor  to  Professor  Mims.  On  July  26  he 
wrote  to  H.  A.  Tupper,  then  in  Europe,  that  he  had  been 
appointed  professor,  and  had  accepted,  on  condition  that  he 
should  have  further  assistance,  and  added  that  on  Tupper's 
return  from  Europe  in  the  autumn  the  chair  of  Biblical 
Literature  and  Exegesis  would  be  offered  to  him.  Boyce 
quite  urges  his  friend  to  accept  the  position.  He  says 
there  are  four  students  in  the  theological  department,  and 
thinks  that  by  February  there  will  be  several  others,  while 


102  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

about  twenty  are  in  the  collegiate  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity, preparing  for  the  ministry.  Notwithstanding  the 
small  number  of  students,  there  had  been,  and  was,  a  high 
ambition  to  give  them  thorough  training.  Professor  Mims 
had  worn  himself  out  with  the  task.  Boyce  felt,  and 
judicious  friends  agreed  with  him,  that  alone  he  could  not 
possibly  do  the  requisite  teaching.  He  declared  himself 
willing  to  divide  the  salary  with  a  colleague,  or  to  3'ield  it 
all,  if  the  colleague  should  lack  other  means  of  support. 
He  wrote  again  to  Tupper,  on  September  29,  after  begin- 
ning his  work :  "I  cannot  teach  more  than  half  the  classes 
next  term  "  (when  there  would  be  more  students  and  more 
classes).  Mr.  Tupper  reached  Charleston  in  October,  and 
at  Boyce's  request  met  him  in  Columbia  to  consult.  But 
he  felt  obliged  to  decline,  because  unwilling  (as  he  wrote 
to  President  J.  C.  Furman)  to  sever  the  ''sacred  and  happy 
relation"  that  bound  him  to  the  church  at  Washington, 
Ga.,  ''or  to  exchange  in  a  measure  the  office  of  preaching 
for  that  of  teaching."  Thus  Boyce  was  left  to  struggle 
on  unaided  through  his  first  session.  It  is  stated  by  stu- 
dents of  the  time  that  he  actually  taught  five  hours  a  day, 
and  some  days  six  hours.  To  prepare  all  these  lessons, 
with  his  high  standard  of  thoroughness  and  kindling  am- 
bition, was  a  severe  task,  to  be  sure.  Dr.  John  Mitchell, 
of  North  Carolina,  who  was  a  tutor  in  the  University 
that  year,  says  that  Boyce  "was  industrious,  laborious, 
and  made  a  fine  impression  as  a  teacher  from  the  first." 

Indeed,  Furman  University  was  the  seat  of  much  thor- 
ough study  and  high  teaching.  Great  advantages  are 
enjoyed  by  the  students  and  professors  of  a  large  and 
amply  endowed  institution,  and  nothing  wiser  or  nobler 
can  be  done  by  generous  givers  than  to  build  up  such 
endowments.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  very 
large  part  of  the  best  educational  work  that  has  been  done 
in  our  new  country  was  performed  by  small  institutions, 
in  which  a  few  struggling  professors,  ambitious  that  their 


PROFESSOR  IN  FURMAN  UNIVERSITY.  103 

students  should  lack  for  nothing  in  the  way  of  instruc- 
tion, were  doing  each  two  men's  work  on  half  of  one 
man's  salary,  and  really  got  closer  to  the  students,  got 
hold  of  them  more  strongly  and  impressively,  by  reason 
of  not  being  too  far  in  advance  of  them,  because  all 
were  toiling  and  struggling  on  together.  Every  limita- 
tion and  disadvantage  in  life  has  certain  compensations 
where  the  men  concerned  possess  real  talent  and  kin- 
dling aspiration. 

President  James  C.  Furman,  D.D.,  son  of  the  Richard 
Furman  after  whom  the  institution  was  named,  had  as 
a  young  preacher  enjoyed  very  remarkable  success  in 
numerous  revival  meetings  at  important  points  in  the 
Carolinas.  He  was  for  some  years  pastor  of  the  singularly 
interesting  community  about  Society  Hill,  S.  C,  in  the 
region  lying  between  Columbia  and  Wilmington.  He 
greatly  longed  to  be  only  a  preacher  and  pastor,  as  was 
true  of  some  others  who  have  felt  compelled  to  yield  their 
preference,  and  spend  their  lives  in  aiding  the  preparatory 
studies  of  their  ministerial  brethren.  When  first  elected 
professor  in  the  Furman  Institution,  he  declined;  but  he 
accepted  in  1843,  and  remained  in  connection  with  the  Insti- 
tution, and  afterwards  University,  until  his  death  in  1890. 
Dr.  Furman  was  a  man  of  high  and  varied  talents  and 
accomplishments,  a  very  winning  and  impressive  preacher, 
and  a  very  lucid  and  engaging  teacher.  His  singularly 
mild  and  gentle  tones  of  voice  and  his  general  bearing 
really  harmonized  perfectly  with  his  force  of  character  and 
strong  convictions.  Had  he  possessed  higher  bodily  health 
to  endure  the  immense  labor  of  wide  study  and  varied 
teaching,  and  had  he  been  gifted  with  a  more  resolute  and 
commanding  tone  in  public  speech,  he  would  have  been 
generally  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  coun- 
try. Numerous  students,  through  almost  fifty  years,  have 
felt  more  and  more  with  the  unfolding  of  their  own  ex- 
perience how  great  a  privilege  they  had   enjoyed  in  his 


104  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES   P.   BOYCE. 

ripe  instruction  and  his  charming  personal  influence  and 
example. 

C.  H.  Judson,  the  Professor  of  Mathematics,  had  been 
educated  at  Hamilton  and  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
had  become  professor  in  Furman  University  upon  its 
establishment  in  1851.  The  plan  of  organization  of  the 
University,  which  was  adopted  the  next  year,  was  chiefly 
prepared  by  Professor  Judson,  upon  avowed  comparison  with 
the  documents  published  by  the  University  of  Virginia 
and  by  Brown  University,  which  liad  in  1850  changed  its 
curriculum  into  a  number  of  separate  schools.  Professor 
Judson  remarkably  combines  a  special  talent  for  metaphysi- 
cal thinking,  extraordinary  gifts  as  a  mathematician,  and 
uncommon  energy  and  skill  in  practical  business  affairs. 
As  treasurer,  he  helped  to  carry  the  University  through 
many  years  of  trial,  before  and  after  the  war.  As  teacher 
of  mathematics,  he  has  always  been  remarkable  for  very 
clear  statement,  given  in  a  forcible  and  cogent  way,  and 
with  an  enthusiasm  for  the  subject  which  his  quiet  man- 
ner did  not  prevent  from  kindling  the  susceptible  student, 
—  a  combination  making  up  a  great  teacher  of  mathe- 
matics. He  was  also  at  this  time  teaching  the  School  of 
Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy,  and  the  School  of 
Chemistry  and  Natural  History. 

Professor  Peter  C.  Edwards,  born  near  Society  Hill,  S.  C, 
had  been  graduated  in  South  Carolina  College  and  the 
Newton  Theological  Institution.  He  was  now  a  laborious 
Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in  the  University,  and 
had  little  time  for  the  instruction  in  Biblical  Exegesis 
which  he  had  formerly  given  in  Furman  Institution.  A 
man  of  strong  intellect,  great  powers  of  imagination, 
and  depth  of  feeling,  he  was  an  enthusiastic  student 
and  teacheT,  but  was  comparatively^  deficient  in  practical 
knowledge  and  practical  judgment.  Upon  some  thor- 
oughly congenial  and  in  itself  kindling  theme  he  would 
preach  a  sermon  of  wonderful   charm  and  power,   while 


PROFESSOR  IN  FURMAN  UNIVERSITY.  105 

most  of  his  discourses  failed  to  interest  the  average  hearer. 
A  question  about  some  favorite  theory  of  Greek  syntax 
would  lead  him  off  into  endless  and  impassioned  disqui- 
sitions, quite  unsuspecting  that  a  lad  who  did  not  know 
his  lesson  had  raised  that  question  to  stop  the  recitation. 
All  v\^ho  knew  Professor  Edwards  well,  greatly  admired  and 
loved  him,  and  students  naturally  inclined  to  the  study  of 
language  found  him  a  most  inspiring  teacher. 

With  the  able  Professor  W.  B.  E-oyall  as  head  of  the 
Academic  Department,  and  John  Mitchell  as  tutor,  — 
afterwards  Thomas  Hall,  J.  B.  Patrick,  John  F.  Lanneau, 

—  the  University  was  prepared  to  do,  and  really  was 
doing,  much  first-rate  work  in  teaching.  Our  ambitious 
and  laborious  young  Professor  of  Theology  had  come  into 
a  busy  workshoii. 

The  previous  professors  —  Hooper,  Keynolds,  and  Minis 

—  had  taken  more  interest  in  the  directly  Biblical  studies 
than  in  Systematic  Theology.  Boyce  was  most  interested 
and  best  prepared  in  Systematic  Theology  and  cognate 
subjects;  and  for  this  reason,  as  well  as  the  excess  of  labor, 
he  greatly  desired  a  colleague  for  the  Biblical  work;  but 
meantime  he  went  on  faithfully  teaching  all  the  subjects. 
Professor  Mims's  course  had  been  arranged  for  two  years; 
Boyce  proposed  to  insert  a  previous  "undergraduate  year," 
in  which  for  six  months  before  the  Commencement  the  col- 
lege students  for  the  ministry  would  give  some  attention 
to  Hebrew  and  Biblical  History.  Among  the  little  group 
of  students  was  Kev.  John  G.  Williams,  who  has  long 
been  a  popular  minister  in  South  Carolina.  He  writes  as 
follows :  — 

''Dr.  Boyce  taught  us  Systematic  Theology  (using  Dick's 
Theology  as  a  text-book).  Church  History,  Greek  New  Testament 
Exegesis,  and  Hebrew.  It  was  easy  to  see  then  that  Theology 
was  his  strong  point,  and  had  already  taken  a  strong  hold  on  him. 
I  thought  his  lectures  — which  he  required  us  to  take  down  — on 
one  of  the  Gos})els  were  very  able,  and  have  always  regretted  that  I 


106  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES   P.  BOYCE. 

lost  iny  uotes  of  them  during  the  late  war,  ^yith  the  greater  part  of 
my  library.  Dr.  Boyce  impressed  me  as  beiug  a  very  hard  student, 
and  one  who  had  found  his  true  calling  as  a  theological  professor. 
It  was  a  calling  that  stirred  his  enthusiasm  and  brought  out  his  real 
power,  thus  proving  that  this  was  to  be  his  life-work.  Dr.  Boyce 
was  always  interesting,  thorough,  and  patient  as  a  teacher.  He 
took  great  interest  in  us,  and  we  felt  that  he  was  our  friend.  We 
went  to  his  recitation-room,  which  was  in  his  own  house,  with  the 
feeling  that  we  were  not  only  going  there  to  be  taught,  but  to  have  a 
good  time  with  a  warm-hearted,  sympathizing  friend  and  brother." 

Mr.  Williams  remembers  among  bis  fellow-students  at 
the  time  A.  K.  Durham,  John  Morrall,  and  J.  B.  Hartwell. 
The  last  was  a  son  of  Jesse  Hartwell  (an  early  professor 
in  the  Furnian  Institution),  and  has  labored  as  a  mission- 
ary in  China,  and  of  late  to  the  Chinese  in  California. 
During  Boyce's  second  year  J.  F.  B.  Mays,  of  Virginia, 
was  a  theological  student,  and  there  were  some  others 
whose  names  cannot  now  be  recovered. 

When  formally  inaugurated  in  July,  1856,  he  delivered 
an  inaugural  address  entitled  ''  Three  Changes  in  Theologi- 
cal Institutions,"  of  which  we  shall  have  much  to  say  in 
the  next  chapter.  The  young  professor,  still  only  twenty- 
nine  years  old,  and  convinced  that  he  was  to  speak  on 
vital  themes  at  a  time  of  crisis,  prepared  this  address  with 
great  care.  Three  distinct  forms  of  it  appear  among  his 
manuscripts. 

At  this  meeting  of  the  Board  in  July,  E.  T.  Winkler 
was  elected  to  be  adjunct  professor  of  theology  and  of  the 
ancient  languages,  which  would  have  made  him  a  helper 
to  Professor  Edwards  also.  He  declined,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing January  H.  A.  Tupper  was  again  elected  to  the 
same  position,  and  again  declined.  W^e  can  easily  see 
now  that  this  series  of  disappointments,  fixing  the  convic- 
tion that  he  could  not  carry  out  his  cherished  plans  in  a 
theological  department  for  a  single  State,  was  steadily 
leading  Professor  Boyce  on  towards  the  foundation  of  a 


PROFESSOR  IN   FURMAN   UNIVERSITY.  107 

general  theological  seminary  for  Southern  Baptists,  for 
which  the  way  had  been  preparing  through  a  dozen  years. 
Four  months  after  this  last  failure  to  get  a  colleague,  he 
was  at  the  educational  convention  in  Louisville,  throwing 
his  whole  soul  into  the  project  of  establishing  a  common 
theological  seminary  at  Greenville. 

Dr.  H.  A.  Tupper  would  have  made  an  uncommonly 
accurate  and  enthusiastic  instructor  in  Hebrew  and  other 
Biblical  studies.  He  mentioned  in  New  York  to  the 
famous  Dr.  T.  J.  Conant,  who  had  been  his  teacher  at 
Hamilton,  that  he  had  been  asked  to  consider  a  Hebrew 
professorship,  and  had  declined,  because  no  Hebraist.  Dr. 
Conant  gave  a  noteworthy  replj^:  ''You  made  a  mistake. 
No  professor  knows  much  of  his  chair  when  he  first  takes 
it.''  Doubtless  every  professor  feels  thus,  whether  he 
begins  teaching  in  youth  or  in  later  years.  We  may 
add  a  companion  saying  of  Dr.  Gessner  Harrison,  of  the 
University  of  Virginia:  ''A  man  ought  to  stop  teaching  a 
subject  when  he  stops  learning  it." 

In  February,  1857,  Boyce  writes  to  Mr.  Tupper  that  he 
had  been  asked  to  consider  an  election  as  President  of 
Mercer  University,  but  did  not  encourage  the  idea.  He  is 
thinking  of  a  trip  to  Europe  as  soon  as  he  is  free,  "  either 
through  resignation  or  additional  help  in  the  theological 
department,  or  the  establishment  of  a  Central  Institu- 
tion." The  Mercer  appointment  was  urged  upon  him 
again  in  May,  after  the  Louisville  educational  convention, 
with  a  salary  of  $2,500,  which  for  that  time  and  region  was 
remarkable;  but  he  positively  declined.  In  August  he  was 
formally  and  unanimously  elected  to  Mercer,  but  declined. 
Brethren  were  beginning  to  see  clearl}^  that  here  was  a  man 
capable  of  bringing  things  to  pass,  and  they  wanted  him. 

Professor  Boyce  really  taught  in  Furman  University 
only  two  years.  In  July,  1857,  he  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion; but  the  Board  requested  him  to  retain  the  office  of 
professor,  and  use  his  time  as  he  should  think  proper.     He 


108  MExMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

spent  a  considerable  part  of  the  next  eight  months  in  trav- 
elling through  the  State  to  raise  an  endowment  for  the 
projected  theological  seminary.  About  this  period,  or 
somewhat  later,  he  gave  gratuitous  instruction  in  several 
subjects  in  the  Greenville  Female  College,  —  for  which 
the  trustees  voted  him  their  thanks  in  1860,  —  and  for 
one  year  gratuitously  discharged  the  duties  of  President  of 
that  institution. 

Among  his  sermons  we  find  one  on  the  recent  death  of 
A.  P.  Butler,  United  States  Senator  from  South  Carolina, 
who  died  May  25,  1857.  The  sermon  was  probably  delivered 
in  Greenville,  where  some  relatives  of  the  Senator  were 
personal  friends  of  the  preacher.  Judge  Butler  was  a  man 
of  very  high  character,  greatly  honored  and  beloved,  and 
since  the  death  of  Mr.  Calhoun  he  had  been  very  generally 
looked  up  to  as  a  great  bulwark  and  defender  of  the  State 
in  the  senatorial  conflicts.  Mr.  Boyce  was  by  no  means 
given  to  high-wrought  eulogium,  but  he  sj^eaks  in  strong 
terms  of  the  Senators  elevated  character,  intellectual  re- 
sources, and  patriotic  spirit,  adding  as  follows:  ''Well 
may  the  State  mourn  to-day  the  loss  of  such  a  man.  Pure 
in  patriotism,  prudent  in  counsel,  pre-eminent  above  all  his 
contemporaries  in  that  peculiar  eloquence  which  silences 
and  rebukes  with  withering  sarcasm  the  false  charges  of 
unworthy  foes,  — in  these  days  of  misconception,  if  not  of 
aspersion,  of  dangers  from  within  and  from  without,  the 
loss  of  no  man  in  the  national  councils  could  be  felt  to  be 
more  serious.  Especially  may  Carolina  mourn  the  loss 
of  her  wise  and  noble  son,  of  her  peerless  and  invincible 
champion."  A  year  before  his  death.  Senator  Butler 
had  been  the  subject  of  a  very  bitter  personal  attack  in  a 
speech  from  Senator  Charles  Sumner.  Whether  he  had  pro- 
voked this  by  something  of  his  own  "withering  sarcasm," 
we  know  not.  But  Mr.  Sumner  was  famous  for  terrific 
invectiv^e,  and  it  is  well  remembered  that  he  attacked  Mr. 
Butler  in  terms  so  personal  and  insulting  as  to  be  thought 


PROFESSOR  IN  FURMAN  UNIVERSITY.  109 

by  the  latter's  friends  simply  intolerable.  Butler  was 
sixty  years  old,  and  in  feeble  health.  It  was  these  cir- 
cumstances which  led  his  nephew,  Preston  S.  Brooks,  a 
member  of  the  lower  House,  to  determine  that  he  would 
avenge  the  insulting  assault  upon  his  uncle  by  physical 
chastisement  of  Mr.  Sumner.  Weary  of  waiting  for  him 
to  come  forth.  Brooks  finally  rushed  into  the  Senate  cham- 
ber, after  adjournment,  and  assailed  Senator  Sumner  with 
a  cane  as  he  sat  writing  in  his  seat.  This  unjustifiable 
course  turned  a  very  general  tide  of  sympathy  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Sumner,  and  has  caused  it  to  be  frequently  overlooked 
that  the  famous  Senator  sometimes  indulged  his  powers 
of  invective  in  ways  quite  overpassing  the  limits  of  pro- 
priety. How  often  men  forget,  in  the  heated  animosities 
of  discussion,  that  it  is  a  cheap  thing  to  be  personally 
insulting,  instead  of  convincing  by  earnest  argument.  If 
we  are  to  have  an  end  to  physical  assaults,  as  is  so  much 
to  be  desired,  there  ought  to  be  at  least  some  limit  to 
verbal  assaults.  The  hot  passions  of  the  period  referred 
to  —  four  years  before  the  war  —  are  revealed  by  the  fact 
that  many  men  in  Carolina  and  elsewhere  not  only  excused, 
but  unreservedly  commended  Mr.  Brooks's  entire  course, 
and  many  at  the  North  glorified  Mr.  Sumner  as  a  martyr 
to  free  speech,  without  ever  tolerating  the  suggestion  that 
all  the  same  he  had  grievously  insulted  an  aged  and  feeble 
Senator  of  the  highest  character.  Even  at  the  present  day 
it  is  difficult  to  look  back  upon  that  period  of  varied  con- 
flict and  judge  fairly  of  one  side  or  the  other. 

During  these  years  Mr.  Boyce  also  took  interest  in  agri- 
culture, as  his  home  in  the  edge  of  Greenville  reached  out 
into  several  fields  of  arable  land.  An  agricultural  monthly 
of  February,  1858,  reported  that  in  Greenville  District  Pro- 
fessor James  P.  Boyce  made  on  one  acre  fifty  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds  of  ruta-baga  turnips  and 
tops,  and  the  men  are  named  who  weighed  them.     It  also 


110  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

states  that  of  wheat  he  made  forty-four  bushels  and  a  peck 
to  the  acre,  —  a  remarkable  yield  for  the  soil  of  that  region, 
better  suited  to  corn  and  cotton  than  to  wheat.  He  also 
took  interest  in  the  introduction  of  improved  stock;  yet 
not  as  a  mere  gratification,  for  everything  must  pay,  so 
that  others  might  be  encouraged  to  do  likewise. 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       Ill 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FOUNDATION   OF   THE    SOUTHERN     BAPTIST     THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY.  1 

^T^HE  idea  of  a  common  theological  institution  for  all 
X  Southern  Baptists  is  thought  by  some  to  have  been 
first  suggested  by  the  eminent  South  Carolina  minister, 
Dr.  W.  B.  Johnson,  while  others  ascribe  it  to  the  equally 
distinguished  Dr.  E.  B.  C.  Howell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Dr. 
J.  B.  Jeter,  of  Virginia.  It  had  doubtless  arisen  inde- 
pendently in  the  minds  of  various  brethren  in  different 
States;  and  things  were  slowly  preparing  for  the  movement 
in  many  ways.^ 

Nearly  every  Baptist  College  at  the  South  had  at  one 
time  a  theological  department,  like  that  of  Furman  Uni- 
versity, in  which  James  P.  Boyce  taught.  Indeed,  several 
of  them  were  begun  as  simply  theological  institutions,  and 
afterwards  grew  into  colleges  (frequently  called  univer- 
sities, because  it  was  hoped  they  would  finally  reach  that 
character),  commonly  retaining  the  theological  department, 
though  sometimes  dropping  it.     Thus,  when  the  Baptist 

1  Some  readers  will  be  likely  to  exercise,  in  regard  to  tins  and  the 
next  chnpter,  what  Sir  Walter  calls  "a  faculty  of  judicious  skipping." 
But  persons  interested  in  the  Seminary,  or  in  the  general  matter  of 
theological  education,  may  like  to  have  the  historical  sketch  here 
given. 

2  A  brief  historical  sketch  of  these  preparatory  events  was  prefixed 
by  Dr.  Boyce  to  the  Seminary's  first  catalogue  ;  and  another  was  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Manly  in  the  "Seminary  Magazine"  for  December,  1891. 
Other  materials  have  been  drawn  from  various  sources  and  from  personal 
recollection.     ■• 


112  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

Seminary  at  Eichmond,  Va.,  was  about  to  be  re-organized 
as  Eichmond  College,  a  Baptist  member  of  the  Legislature 
earnestly  and  successfully  urged  that  they  should  drop  the 
theological  department,  on  the  ground  that  for  the  Legis- 
lature to  incorporate  a  theological  institution  squinted 
towards  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  —  so  great  was  the 
sensitiveness  on  that  subject  which  had  survived  in  Vir- 
ginia from  the  fierce  conflicts  of  half  a  century  before. 
The  legislator  in  question  insisted  that  young  preachers 
should  study  the  Bible  and  theology  under  the  guidance 
of  older  pastors,  or  that  seminaries  for  the  purpose  could 
be  conducted  without  incorporation.  This  sensitiveness 
passed  away,  and  several  theological  seminaries  of  other 
denominations  were  afterwards  incorporated  in  Virginia. 
In  most  States  the  theological  department  was  retained, 
sometimes  with  two  professors,  as  we  have  seen  Boyce 
anxious  to  have  it,  but  oftener  with  only  one.  Much 
earnest  and  helpful  work  was  done  for  small  classes  in 
these  various  institutions,  yet  there  were  obvious  and  very 
serious  difficulties,  often  keenly  felt  by  the  struggling 
professor  himself.  Several  of  these  professors  were  among 
the  most  earnest  advocates  of  the  establishment  of  a  com- 
mon seminary,  though  each  naturally  wished  that  the 
institution  with  which  he  was  connected  might  become 
the  nucleus  for  such  a  new  organization. 

When  Basil  Manly,  Jr.,  graduated  in  1844  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama  (of  which  his  father,  Basil  Manly,  Sr., 
was  president),  and  determined  to  devote  himself  to  the 
ministry,  the  question  how  he  could  be  best  prepared  for 
the  work  was  earnestly  discussed  between  his  father  and 
Dr.  John  L.  Dagg,^  then  Professor  of  Theology  in  Mercer 
University  at  Penfield,  Ga.  (since  removed  to  Macon). 

1  Dr.  Dagg  was  a  man  of  great  ability  and  lovable  character.  His 
works  are  worthy  of  thorongh  study,  especially  his  small  volume,  "  A 
Manual  of  Theology"  (Amer.  Bap.  Pub.  Soc),  which  is  remarkable 
for  clear  statement  of  the  profoundest  truths,  and  for  devotional  sweet- 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       113 

Dr.  Dagg,  while  residing  in  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  had  been 
associated  with  young  Manly's  early  religious  experience, 
so  that  the  latter  was  inclined  to  study  theology  at  Mercer 
under  his  direction.  ''But  he  advised,"  says  the  narra- 
tive above  mentioned,  ''with  characteristic  earnestness 
and  fidelity,  that  I  should  not  content  myself  with  that, 
but  should  seek  at  once  the  best  advantages  and  the  fullest 
course  that  could  be  procured.  These,  it  was  agreed,  could 
be  found  then  at  the  Newton  Theological  Institution,  near 
Boston,  Mass.  When  the  disruption  of  1845  occurred 
between  Northern  and  Southern  Baptists,  in  their  volun- 
tary missionary  organizations,  —  for  the  division  extended 
only  to  these,  and  never  to  the  actual  relations  of  the 
churches,  — it  led  to  the  withdrawal  from  Newton  of  the 
four  Southern  students  who  were  there,  S.  C.  Clopton,  E. 
T.  Winkler,  J.  W.  M.  Williams,  and  myself.  The  other 
three  went  directly  into  ministerial  work,^  while  I  deter- 
mined, as  I  was  younger,  to  prosecute  further  preparatory 
study,  and  went,  under  the  advice  of  my  father,  of  Dr. 
Dagg,  of  Dr.  Francis  Wayland,  and  other  friends,  to 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  .  .  .  There  was  not  at 
that  period  an  institution  at  the  South  where  anything 
like  a  full  theological  course  could  be  enjoyed.  It  was 
felt  that  that  state  of  things  ought  not  to  remain  so. 
Articles  were  written  in  the  leading  papers  by  a  number  of 
eminent  brethren  bearing  on  the  question,  and  suggesting 
different  plans  for  relieving  the  situation." 

During  the  meeting  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  1845,  at  which 
it  was  decided  to  organize  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 

ness.  The  writer  of  this  Memoir  may  be  pardoned  for  bearing  witness 
that  after  toiling  much,  in  his  early  years,  as  a  pastor,  over  Knapp  and 
Turrettin,  Dwight  and  Andrew  Fuller,  and  other  elaborate  theologians, 
he  found  this  manual  a  delight,  and  has  felt  through  life  the  pleasing 
impulse  it  gave  to  theological  inquiry  and  reflection.  A  stepson  of 
Dr.  Dagg  is  the  eminent  professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University 
of  Virginia,  Dr.  Noah  K.  Davis. 

1  They  had  all  been  at  Newton  two  years,  Manly  but  one. 


114  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

tion,  a  couference  of  brethren  from  various  States  was  held, 
to  consider  the  question  of  establishing  a  theological 
seminarj^  of  a  high  order.  In  1847,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Indian  Mission  Association,  held  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  the 
subject  was  again  discussed  by  prominent  brethren  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  When  the  Southern  Baptist 
Convention  was  to  meet  on  May  2,  1849,^  at  Nashville, 
Dr.  W.  B.  Johnson  tried  to  secure  a  meeting  of  South 
Carolina  delegates,  at  Aiken,  on  their  way  to  Nashville, 
to  consult  about  this  matter,  and  with  a  view  to  put  for- 
w^ard  the  Furman  Theological  Institution  as  the  nucleus 
of  a  common  seminary ;  but  this  meeting  was  prevented  by 
the  general  abandonment  of  the  trip  to  Nashville.  Tho 
trustees  of  Mercer  University  took  action  about  the  same 
time,  favoring  the  idea  of  a  concentration  upon  that  in- 
stitution. Some  scattered  cases  of  cholera  in  Nashville 
excited  an  alarm  in  distant  States,  being  magnified  into 
an  epidemic,  and  kept  away  many  of  those  who  would  have 
attended  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  at  that  place. 
But  in  the  meeting  there  held,  it  is  stated  by  Basil  Manly, 
Jr.,  that  '' Brethren  E.  B.  C.  Howell  and  J.  E.  Graves, 
whom  I  then  met  for  the  first  time,  were  both  enthu- 
siastic and  zealous  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  insti- 
tution. In  fact,  they  thought  the  very  time  had  come." 
Young  Manly  considered  that  matters  were  scarcely  ripe 
for  this  desirable  enterprise,  and  was  challenged  by  Brother 
Graves,  who  was  already  a  skilled  and  renowned  debater, 
to  discuss  the  matter  before  the  Convention.  He  declined 
the  discussion,  and  gives  the  following  reasons:  "I  did 
not  want  to  be  put  into  the  false  position  of  antagonizing 
the  progressive  movement  for  theological  education,  which 
I  earnestly  favored ;  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  say  I  dreaded 

1  Its  first  regular  meeting  was  held  at  Richmond  in  1846.  Being  at 
first  triennia],  like  the  old  Triennial  Convention  of  Baptists  of  the 
whole  country,  its  next  meeting  fell  in  1849.  Afterwards  it  became 
biennial,  and  of  late  years  annual. 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       115 

to  cope  with  so  vigorous  and  able  an  opponent  as  Brother 
Graves  in  an  extempore  debate." 

The  Nashville  Convention  adjourned  to  meet  in  Charles- 
ton on  May  23.  In  anticipation  of  this  meeting  in  Charles- 
ton the  "  Southern  Baptist,"  of  which  Boyce  was  just  then 
ceasing  to  be  editor,  republished  two  elaborate  articles  on 
this  question  from  the  ''Monthly  Miscellany, '^  edited  in 
Georgia  by  Joseph  S.  Baker.  The  first  article  was  from 
E.  B.  C.  Howell,  D.D.,  then  pastor  in  Nashville.  He 
recognizes  that  many  men  have  been,  and  many  wall  be, 
very  useful  in  the  ministry,  without  formal  education  at 
college  or  seminary.  But  he  argues  that  the  progress  of 
general  knowledge,  the  necessity  of  encountering  trained 
ministers  of  other  denominations,  the  demand  of  many  of 
our  churches  for  better-prepared  pastors,  all  combine  to 
require  a  larger  proportion  of  thoroughly  educated  Baptist 
ministers.  He  proposes  a  union  of  all  existing  Baptist 
theological  schools  in  the  Southern  States  at  some  central 
and  accessible  point;  and  if  this  be  found  impracticable, 
a  new  theological  institution.  This  article  was  replied 
to  in  the  May  number  of  the  ''  Miscellany  "  by  Robert 
Ryland,  President  of  Bichmond  College.  He  argues  that 
a  great  central  theological  school  is  impracticable,  for  it 
would  require  $100,000,  which  cannot  be  had  ;  and  as 
the  inevitable  failure  of  the  attempt  would  produce  general 
discouragement,  he  thinks  the  scheme  had  better  be 
abandoned.  He  also  inclines  to  regard  a  good  college 
course  as  the  main  thing,  since  a  man  of  trained  mind 
could  study  theology  for  himself,  as  many  had  been  doing 
with  great  advantage.  He  remarks  upon  the  impatience 
of  the  young  men,  as  often  preventing  a  sufficiently  long 
attendance  upon  college,  and  a  great  theological  school 
would  only  increase  the  difficulty.  This  last,  it  may  be 
observed,  is  really  one  of  the  grave  difficulties  in  the  w^ay 
of  American  theological  education,  and  particularly  in  the 
far  Southern  States,  where  the  young  grow  up  so  early,  and 


116  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

are    so  impatient  to  enter  upon  the  permanent  relations 
of  life. 

At  the  Charleston  meeting  of  the  Convention,  Boyce 
was  one  of  the  delegates,  and  Basil  Manly,  Jr.,  was 
Assistant  Secretary.  At  a  special  and  separate  educa- 
tional meeting.  Dr.  W.  B.  Johnson,  President  of  the 
S.  B.  Convention,  read  an  elaborate  essay  in  favor  of 
establishing  a  central  theological  institution.  Young 
Manly  made  an  address  upon  the  subject,  the  notes  of 
which  he  published  in  the  ''Seminary  Magazine"  (itt 
sitjjra).  In  this  he  stated  that  there  were  then  seven 
theological  professors,  in  as  many  Southern  Baptist  insti- 
tutions, having  in  all  about  thirty  students.  He  argued 
the  great  advantage  of  a  single  central  institution  for 
economy  and  for  efficiency.  Some  of  his  points  under 
the  latter  head  ought  to  be  quoted,  as  showing  how 
thoroughly  the  subject  was  understood  by  the  men  en- 
gaged in  promoting  the  project.  "  (a)  A  division  of  labor 
can  be  had,  so  that  the  professors  can  give  better  and 
more  thorough  instruction,  each  taking  his  special  subject. 
.  .  .  (c)  A  larger  number  of  professors,  with  their  varied 
characteristics  and  excellences,  would  exert  a  stronger 
influence,  and  one  not  so  liable  to  produce  one-sided 
development,  on  the  students.  Strong  and  good  men 
form  their  pupils,  not  only  by  what  they  teach,  but  by 
what  they  are  ;  and  the  more  of  such  men  we  have 
together,  the  larger  the  benefit,  (d)  The  mutual  acquaint- 
ance of  a  large  body  of  students,  gathered  from  different 
parts  of  our  country,  would  have  a  strong  tendency  to  pro- 
mote a  general  union  of  Baptists  in  all  good  things,  and 
to  keep  down  local  or  sectional  peculiarities  and  jealousies. 
(e)  It  would  afford  greater  stimulus  to  study  if  the  stu- 
dents came  into  contact  with  the  picked  men  of  a  wider 
area,  enjoying,  many  of  them,  the  advantages  of  higher 
culture;  and  this  would  be  more  beneficial  to  them  than 
if  they  met  simply  men  from  their  own  State,  and  brought 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       117 

up  under  circumstances  precisely  like  their  own. ' '  He  men- 
tions three  plans  which  have  been  suggested:  ''(1)  Trans- 
fer all  present  theological  funds  to  a  new  board,  to  establish 
one  institution  at  some  point  to  be  agreed  on.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  this  can  be  legally  done.  (2)  Let  the  funds 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  present  local  or  State  boards, 
but  let  all  agree  to  use  the  income  for  sustaining  pro- 
fessors at  some  common  centre.  Hard  to  get  all  to  agree. 
(3)  Establish  a  new  institution,  with  new  board,  new 
funds,  possibly  using  some  one  of  the  existing  theological 
departments  as  a  foundation,  but  giving  it  into  the  charge 
of  a  board  of  trustees  selected  from  all  States  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Convention.  This  last  seems  most 
likely  to  be   carried  into   execution." 

After  repeated  consultation  at  meetings  held  during  the 
sessions  of  the  Convention,  —  for  the  Southern  Baptist 
Convention  itself  never  at  any  time  took  up  the  question, 
—  a  large  committee  was  appointed  (A.  M.  Poindexter, 
chairman)  to  correspond  with  the  trustees  of  existing 
theological  schools,  and  propose  to  Conventions  or  Asso- 
ciations any  means  "they  may  believe  calculated  to  secure 
in  the  Southern  States  a  thorough  and  useful  training  of 
our  young  men  who  are  entering  the  gospel  ministry." 
There  was  no  practical  result  of  all  this,  but  interest  in 
the  subject  was  slowly  widening  and  deepening. 

Up  to  this  time  James  P.  Boyce  had  naturally  taken 
no  prominent  part  in  the  movement.  He  was  only  twenty- 
two  years  old,  and  had  not  yet  begun  his  theological  stud- 
ies at  Princeton.  But  two  or  three  times,  while  editing 
the  "  Southern  Baptist  "  during  the  preceding  months, 
he  had  expressed  himself  as  favorable  to  the  movement. 
The  next  action  taken,  as  far  as  records  are  accessible, 
was  at  the  Baptist  General  Association  of  Virginia,  in 
June,  1854,  proposing  a  meeting  of  "the  friends  of  theo- 
logical education" on  May  11,  1855,  at  Montgomery,  Ala., 
during  the  session  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention. 


118  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

We  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter  that  Eev.  James  P. 
Boyce,  who  had  just  resigned  his  pastorate  in  South 
Carolina,  was  present  and  active  in  this  Montgomery 
Convention.  At  the  accompanying  educational  meetings 
B.  Manly,  Jr.,  was  Secretary,  and  a  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence was  appointed,  consisting  of  J.  B.  Jeter, 
J.  P.  Boyce,  and  others.  Eesolutions  offered  by  A.  M. 
Poindexter,  and  unanimously  adopted,  declared  ''that  in 
the  opinion  of  this  meeting  it  is  demanded  by  the  inter- 
ests of  the  cause  of  truth  that  the  Baptists  of  the  South 
and  Southwest  unite  in  establishing  a  Theological  Insti- 
tu<tion  of  high  grade,''  and  proposed  that  a  convention  be 
held  in  regard  to  this  object,  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  in  April 
of  the  next  year,  to  be  composed  of  representatives  from 
the  various  colleges,  educational  societies,  and  State 
conventions. 

At  this  next  meeting  in  Augusta,  April,  1856,  the 
attendance  was  of  course  chiefly  from  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia;  but  there  were  two  from  Washington  city,  six 
from  Virginia,  one  from  North  Carolina,  two  from  Flor- 
ida, four  from  Alabama,  one  each  from  Mississippi  and 
Louisiana,  and  three  from  Tennessee.  A  Yerj  large 
proportion  of  these  brethren,  who  came  from  a  distance 
for  this  express  purpose,  were  then,  or  afterwards  became, 
men  of  distinction  among  Southern  Baptists.^  It  in- 
cluded two,  Boyce  and  Manly,  of  the  men  destined  to  be 
the  Seminary's  first  professors ;  and  three  had  been  present 
at  Montgomery.  Dr.  B.  Manly,  Sr.,  was  made  president, 
and  so  in  each  of  the  subsequent  meetings  until  the 
formation  of  the  Seminary.  He  was  then  again  pastor  in 
Charleston.  A  large  and  able  committee,  headed  by  the 
President,  reported  "that  from  various  causes  they  find 
the  subject  embarrassed  by  difficulties  at  every  point, 
which  it  is  useless  here  to  discuss,  as  it  is  impossible  here 

1  The  list  is  given  in  the  introduction  to  the  Southern  Baptist 
Theological  Seminary's  first  catalogue. 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       119 

to  decide  whether  they  are  insuperable."  The  committee 
regarded  "the  attainment  of  the  general  object  as  para- 
mount, but  could  only  recommend  that  still  another 
convention  of  properly  authenticated  delegates,  from  the 
Southern  colleges  and  theological  schools  under  the  control 
of  Baptists,  and  from  Baptist  State  Conventions,  should 
be  held  the  following  year  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  during 
the  two  days  preceding  the  session  of  the  Southern  Bap- 
tist Convention.  A  committee,  consisting  of  B.  Manly, 
Sr.,  A.  M.  Poindexter,  and  J.  B.  Jeter,  was  directed  to 
report  to  the  said  meeting  at  Louisville,  (1)  "  what  funds 
exist  subject  to  the  control  of  Baptists  for  theological 
instruction  in  each  of  the  institutions  of  the  South  and 
Southwest ;  whether  the  trustees  or  other  parties  holding 
legal  control  over  these  funds  can  and  will  contribute 
them  in  any  form  —  and  if  any,  what  —  to  the  uses  of  a 
common  theological  institution,  to  be  located  at  any  other 
point  within  or  without  the  limits  of  their  own  States 
severally,  should  the  aforesaid  Convention,  to  assemble  at 
Louisville  in  1857,  adjudge  such  different  location  best 
for  the  common  good;  whether  these  funds,  in  case  they 
are  limited  to  a  spot,  can  and  will  be  placed  within  the 
control  of  such  a  board  of  trustees  as  may  be  appointed 
by  competent  authority  agreed  upon  for  a  common  theo- 
logical institution."  The  same  committee  was  authorized 
and  requested  (2)  "to  use  adequate  means  for  ascertaining 
what  efforts  will  be  made  in  favor  of  any  location,  already 
occupied  or  not,  by  the  inhabitants  and  friends  thereof, 
and  what  pecuniary  subscriptions  or  pledges  will  be  given 
as  a  nucleus,  in  case  such  location  should  be  selected  for  the 
common  institution;  the  object  of  all  these  inquiries  being 
to  ascertain,  in  the  fullest  manner  possible,  whether  such  a 
demand  is  felt  for  a  common  institution  of  this  kind  as  may 
be  a  basis  and  encouragement  for  future  united  action." 

It  is  clear  that  this  report  to  the  Augusta  meeting  was 
written  by  James  P.  Boyce,  who  had  been,  since  the  pre- 


120  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

vious  autumn,  professor  in  the  theological  department  of 
Furman  University.  The  long  series  of  apparently  fruit- 
less meetings  for  consultation  may  now  soon  lead  to  some 
practical  result,  as  pointed  to  by  the  close  of  the  report. 
It  soon  became  evident,  as  B.  Manly,  Jr.,  had  held  seven 
years  before,  that  the  existing  theological  departments  in 
several  States  could  not  be  combined  into  one  institution ; 
and  the  only  hope  lay  in  the  establishment  of  an  entirely 
new  theological  seminary,  or  of  a  seminary  incorporat- 
ing into  itself  some  one  of  the  existing  theological 
de]3artments. 

Three  months  later,  the  State  Convention  of  the  Baptist 
Denomination  in  South  Carolina  met  at  Greenville,  on 
July  26,  1856.  Under  the  special  leadership  of  Professor 
Boyce,  this  Convention  proposed  to  the  coming  Educa- 
tional Convention  at  Louisville  to  establish  at  Greenville, 
S.  C,  a  common  theological  institution,  offering  that  the 
funds  for  theological  purposes  then  held  by  the  Trustees 
of  Furman  University  (about  thirty  thousand  dollars) 
should  be  turned  over  to  the  proposed  institution,  with 
additional  funds  to  be  raised  in  the  State,  which  should 
make  in  all  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  pro- 
vided that  the  said  institution  shall  be  further  endowed 
with  an  additional  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  to 
be  raised  in  other  States.  Thus  something  practical  was 
at  last  proposed;  and  the  question  was  whether  in  the  next 
nine  months  the  sum  of  seventy  thousand  dollars  could  be 
raised  in  South  Carolina  for  the  requisite  endowment. 

On  July  30  Professor  Boyce,  now  comjDleting  his  first  ses- 
sion as  theological  professor  in  Furman  University,  deliv- 
ered his  inaugural  address.  This  important  address  was 
declared  by  A.  M.  Poindexter  (present  as  Secretary  of  the 
Foreign  Mission  Board  at  Richmond)  ''the  ablest  thing  of 
the  kind  he  had  ever  heard, ''  and  is  certainly  a  very  remark- 
able production  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-nine.  Its  ideas 
entered  into  the  constitution,  and  chiefly  determined  the 


SOUTHEllN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.      121 

peculiarities,  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Semi- 
nary. It  will  therefore  be  proper  to  give  here  its  chief 
lines  of  thought,  with  a  number  of  extracts. 

The  address  is  entitled  ''Three  Changes  in  Theologi- 
cal Institutions."  Summarily  stated,  the  three  j)i*oposed 
changes  were  the  following:  (1)  A  Baptist  theological 
school  ought  not  merely  to  receive  college  graduates,  but 
men  with  less  of  general  education,  even  men  having  only 
what  is  called  a  common  English  education,  offering  to 
every  man  such  opportunities  of  theological  study  as  he  is 
prepared  for  and  desires.  (2)  Besides  covering,  for  those 
who  are  prepared,  as  wide  a  range  of  theological  study 
as  could  be  found  elsewhere,  such  an  institution  ought 
to  offer  further  and  special  courses,  so  that  the  ablest 
and  most  aspiring  students  might  make  extraordinary 
attainments,  preparing  them  for  instruction  and  original 
authorship,  and  helping  to  make  our  country  less  depen- 
dent upon  foreign  scholarship.  (3)  There  should  be  pre- 
pared an  Abstract  of  Principles,  or  careful  statement  of 
theological  belief,  which  every  professor  in  such  an  insti- 
tution must  sign  when  inaugurated,  so  as  to  guard  against 
the  rise  of  erroneous  and  injurious  instruction  in  such  a 
seat  of  sacred  learning. 

He  begins  by  deprecating  any  hasty  conclusion  from 
the  sentiments  he  is  about  to  utter  that  he  is  opposed  to 
the  thorough  training  and  education  of  the  Christian  min- 
istry. We  perceive  that  he  foresaw  how  readily  some 
people  would  imagine  that  to  unite  in  the  same  institu- 
tion a  partial  theological  education  of  some  and  a  thorough 
theological  education  of  others  would  be  to  lower  the 
general  standard.  He  wishes  it  distinctly  understood  of 
himself  and  the  University  Trustees  he  is  addressing 
that  they  — 

''  hold  the  education  of  the  ministry  a  matter  of  the  first  impor- 
tance to  the  churches  of  Christ. 

''Indeed,  did  we  think  otherwise,  we  could  no  longer  justly 


122  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

stand  forth  as  exponents  in  any  sense  of  the  opinions  upon  this 
subject  which  prevail  in  our  (lenouiiuatiou.  The  Baptists  are 
unmistakably  the  friends  of  education,  and  the  advocates  of  an 
educated  ministry.  Their  twenty-four  colleges  and  ten  depart- 
ments or  institutions  for  theological  instruction  in  this  country,  as 
well  as  the  extent  to  which  they  have  assisted  in  the  establish- 
ment of  general  institutions,  and  of  those  under  the  control  of 
other  denominations,  furnish  sufficient  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
they  feel  the  value  of  education,  and  the  importance,  under  God, 
of  the  means  it  affords  for  the  better  performance  of  the  work  of 
the  ministry." 

Far  from  wishing  to  diminish  this  denominational  inter- 
est, lie  says  that  he  — 

'^  would  see  the  means  of  theological  education  increased.  I 
would  have  the  facilities  for  pursuing  its  studies  opened  to  all  who 
would  embrace  them  ;  I  would  lead  the  strong  men  of  our  ministry 
to  feel  that  no  position  is  equal  in  responsibility  or  usefulness  to 
that  of  one  devoted  to  this  cause;  and  I  would  spread  among  our 
churches  such  an  earnest  desire  for  educated  ministers  as  would 
make  them  willing  so  to  increase  the  support  of  the  ministry  as 
to  enable  all  of  those  who  are  now  forced,  from  want  of  means,  to 
enter  without  the  fullest  preparation  upon  the  active  duties  of  the 
work,  so  far  to  anticipate  the  support  they  will  receive  as  to 
feel  free  to  borrow  the  means  by  which  their  education  may  be 
completed." 

He  washes  to  propose  certain  changes  which  w^ill  widen 
the  extent  of  theological  education  among  us,  without 
at  all  lowering  the  standard.  The  results  thus  far  of 
establishing  theological  institutions  have  been  extremely 
meagre. 

''  The  mind  of  the  whole  denomination  has  been  awakened  to 
the  want  of  success  under  which  we  have  suffered  in  our  past 
efforts,  and  the  best  intellects  and  hearts  in  all  our  Southern 
bounds  are  directed  to  the  causes  of  our  failure,  and  to  the  means 
by  which  success  may  be  attained.  .   .   .   The  theological  seminary 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       123 

hiis  not  been  a  popular  institution.  But  few  have  sought  its  ad- 
vantages; but  few  liave  been  nurtured  by  the  influences  sent  forth 
from  it ;  and  while  our  denomination  has  continued  to  increase, 
and  our  principles  have  annually  been  spreading  more  M'idely, 
it  has  been  sensibly  felt  that  whatever  ministerial  increase  has 
accompanied  has  been  not  only  disproportionate  to  that  of  our 
membership,  but  has  owed  its  origin  in  no  respect  to  the  influence 
of  theological  education. 

"And  this  seems  to  be  the  general  law  in  the  denomination. 
The  complaint  is  not  peculiar  to  our  institution  ;  it  seems  to  exist 
everywhere,  despite  all  the  efforts  to  counteract  it  which  have 
been  put  forth,  and  not  to  be  confined  to  Baptists,  but  to  be  the 
lamentation  of  all.  You  will  see  it  in  the  organs  of  all  the  prom- 
inent denominations,  and  the  cause  of  it  is  the  subject  of  earnest 
inquiry.'' 

There  is  a  greatly  increased  and  ever-increasing  de- 
mand for  more  ministers,  but  no  corresponding  increase 
in  the  number  who  present  themselves. 

"Oh,  were  there  ever  a  time  when  we  should  expect  tliat  God 
would  answer  the  prayers  of  his  churches,  and  overflood  the  land 
and  the  world  with  a  ministry  adequate  to  uphold  his  cause  in 
every  locality,  it  -w^ould  seem  to  be  now !  —  now,  when  the  wealth 
of  the  churches  is  sufficient  to  send  the  Gospel  to  every  creature; 
now,  when  in  the  art  of  printing  the  Church  has  again  received 
the  gift  of  tongues;  now,  when  the  workings  of  God  himself  indi- 
cate his  readiness  to  beget  a  nation  in  a  day  ;  now,  when  the 
multiplication  a  thousand-fold  of  the  laborers  will  still  leave  an 
abundant  work  for  each  ;  but  now,  alas  !  now,  when  our  churches 
at  home  are  not  adequately  supplied,  when  dark  and  destitute 
places  are  found  in  the  most  favored  portions  of  our  own  land, 
when  the  heathen  are  at  our  very  doors,  and  the  cry  is,  '  Help ! 
help  ! '  and  there  is  no  help,  because  there  are  not  laborers  enough 
to  meet  the  wants  immediately  around  us. 

"  There  are  serious  questions  presented  to  us  here :  To  what 
are  these  things  due  ?  Have  we  not  disregarded  the  laws  wliich 
the  providence  and  word  of  God  have  laid  down  for  us  ?  And 
does  he  not  now  chastise  us  by  sufi'ering  our  schemes  to  work 
out  their  natural  results,  that  we,  being  left  to  ourselves,  may 


124  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

see  our  folly,  and  return  to  liim  and  to  his  vrajs,  as  the  only 
means  of  strength  ? 

*<  In  ascribing  this  evil  for  the  most  part  to  our  theological 
institutions,  I  would  not  appear  unmindful  of  the  other  circum- 
stances upon  which  an  increase  of  the  ministry  in  our  churches 
depends.  Never  would  I  consent  to  lift  my  voice  upon  such  a 
subject  as  this  without  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  sovereignty  of 
God  working  his  own  will,  and  calling  forth  according  to  that 
will  the  many  or  the  few  with  whose  aid  he  will  secure  the  bless- 
ing. Never  could  I  proceed  upon  any  assumption  that  would 
seem  to  take  for  granted  that  there  is  not  the  utmost  need  of  more 
special  awakening  to  devotion  and  piety  in  our  churches,  and  a 
more  fervent  utterance  of  prayer  for  the  increase  of  the  laborers. 
Neither  w^ould  I  have  it  supposed  that  all  that  the  theological 
institution  can  effect  \vill  be  fully  adequate  to  our  wants,  while 
our  pastors  neglect  to  search  out  and  encourage  the  useful  gifts 
which  God  has  bestowed  upon  the  members  of  their  churches,  or 
the  churches  themselves  neglect  the  law  of  God  which  provides 
an  adequate  support  for  the  ministry.  But  while  due  prominence 
is  given  to  all  of  these  circumstances,  it  yet  appears  that  the 
chief  cause  is  to  be  found  in  our  departure  from  the  way  which 
God  has  marked  out  for  us,  and  our  failure  to  make  provision  for 
the  education  of  such  a  ministry  as  he  designs  to  send  forth  and 
honor." 

He  wishes,  therefore,  as  the  first  and  principal  change,  to 
offer  the  opportunity  of  theological  training  to  all  classes 
of  those  whom  God  calls  into  the  ministry,  and  not  simply, 
as  heretofore,  to  invite  into  theological  schools  those  who 
have  completed  a  college  course. 

"Permit  me  to  ask  what  has  been  the  prominent  idea  at  the 
basis  of  theological  education  in  this  country.  To  anive  at  it 
we  have  only  to  notice  the  requisitions  necessary  for  entrance  upon 
a  course  of  study.  Have  they  not  been  almost  uuiversally  that 
the  student  should  have  passed  through  a  regular  college  course, 
or  made  attainments  equivalent  thereto  ?  And  have  not  even  the 
exceptional  cases  been  rare  instances  in  which  the  Faculty  or 
Board  have,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  assumed  the  responsi- 
bility of  a  deviation  from  the  ordinary  course  ? 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       125 

^'  The  idea  which  is  promineut  as  the  basis  of  this  action  is  that 
the  work  of  the  ministry  should  be  intrusted  only  to  those  \vho 
have  been  classically  educated,  —  an  assumption  which,  singularly 
enough,  is  made  for  no  other  profession.  It  is  in  vain  to  say  that 
such  is  not  the  theory  or  the  practice  of  our  denomination.  It  is 
the  theory  and  the  practice  of  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  those  who 
have  controlled  our  institutions,  and  have  succeeded  in  engrafting 
this  idea  upon  them,  contrary  to  the  spirit  which  prevails  among 
the  churches.  They  have  done  this,  without  doubt,  in  the  exercise 
of  their  best  judgment,  but  have  failed  because  they  neglected  the 
better  plan  pointed  out  by  the  providence  and  word  of  God. 

''  The  practical  operation  of  this  theory  has  tended  in  two  ways 
to  diminish  the  ranks  of  our  valuable  ministry.  It  has  restrained 
many  from  entering  upon  the  work,  and  has  prevented  the  arrange- 
ment of  such  a  course  of  study  as  would  have  enabled  those  who 
have  entered  upon  it  to  fit  themselves  in  a  short  time  for  valuable 
service.  The  consequences  have  been  that  the  number  of  those 
who  have  felt  themselves  called  of  God  to  the  ministry  has  been 
disproportioned  to  the  wants  of  the  churches ;  and  of  that  number 
but  a  very  small  proportion  have  entered  it  with  a  proper  prepara- 
tion for  even  common  usefulness.  And  only  by  energy  and  zeal, 
awakened  by  their  devotion  to  the  work,  have  they  been  able  to 
succeed  in  their  labors,  and  to  do  for  themselves  the  work,  the 
greater  part  of  which  the  theological  school  should  have  accom- 
plished for  them. 

"In  his  word  and  in  his  providence,  God  seems  to  have  plainly 
indicated  the  principle  upon  which  the  instruction  of  the  ministry 
should  be  based.  It  is  not  that  every  man  should  be  made  a 
scholar,  an  adept  in  philology,  an  able  interpreter  of  the  Bible  in 
its  original  languages,  acquainted  with  all  the  sciences  upon  the 
various  facts  and  theories  of  which  God's  word  is  attacked  and 
must  be  defended,  and  versed  in  all  the  systems  of  true  and  false 
philosophy,  which  some  must  understand  in  order  to  encounter 
the  enemies  who  attack  the  very  foundations  of  religion,  but  that 
while  the  privilege  of  becoming  such  shall  be  freely  ofiered  to  all, 
and  every  student  shall  be  encouraged  to  obtain  all  the  advantages 
that  education  can  afford,  the  opportunity  should  be  given  to  those 
who  cannot  or  will  not  make  thorough  scholastic  preparation  to 
obtain  that  adequate  knowledge  of  the  truths  of  the  Scriptures, 
systematically  aiTanged,  and  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  inter- 


126  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

pretatiou  of  the  text  in  the  English  version,  which  constitutes  all 
that  is  actually  necessary  to  enable  them  to  yjreach  the  Gospel,  to 
build  up  the  churches  on  their  most  holy  faith,  and  to  instruct 
them  in  the  practice  of  the  duties  incumbent  upon  them. 

"The  Scriptural  qualifications  for  the  ministry  do,  indeed,  in- 
volve the  idea  of  knowledge,  but  that  knowledge  is  not  of  the 
sciences,  nor  of  philosophy,  nor  of  the  languages,  but  of  God  and  of 
his  plan  of  salvation.  He  who  has  not  this  knowledge,  though  he 
be  learned  in  all  the  learning  of  the  schools,  is  incapable  of  preach- 
ing the  word  of  God.  But  he  who  knows  it,  not  superficially, 
not  merely  in  those  plain  and  simple  declarations  known  to  every 
believing  reader,  but  in  its  power,  as  revealed  in  its  precious  and 
sanctifying  doctrines,  is  fitted  to  bring  forth  out  of  his  treasury 
things  new  and  old,  and  is  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,  although  he  may  speak  to  his  hearers  in  uncouth  Avords 
or  in  manifest  ignorance  of  all  the  sciences.  The  one  belongs  to 
the  class  of  educated  ministers,  the  other  to  the  ministry  of  edu- 
cated men ;  and  the  two  things  are  essentially  diflterent." 

This  difference  he  illustrates  by  contrasting  John  Bun- 
yan  and  Theodore  Parker  as  preachers  of  the  Gospel. 

''  Who  is  the  minister  here,  —  the  man  of  the  schools,  or  the  man 
of  the  Scriptures  ?  Who  bears  the  insignia  of  an  ambassador  for 
Christ?  Whom  does  God  own?  Whom  would  the  C'liurch  hear? 
In  whose  power  would  she  put  forth  her  strength  ?  And  yet  these 
instances,  though  extreme,  will  serve  to  show  what  may  be  the 
ministry  of  the  educated  man,  and  what  that  of  the  illiterate  man, 
the  educated  minister.  The  perfection  of  the  ministry,  it  is  gladly 
admitted,  would  consist  in  the  just  combination  of  the  two;  but 
it  is  not  the  business  of  the  Church  to  establish  a  perfect,  but  an 
adequate  ministry;  and  it  is  (mly  of  the  latter  that  we  may  hope 
for  an  abundant  supply.  The  qualification  God  lays  down  is  the 
only  one  he  permits  us  to  demand;  and  the  instruction  of  our 
theological  schools  must  be  based  upon  such  a  plan  as  shall  afford 
this  amount  of  education  to  those  who  actually  constitute  the 
mass  of  our  ministry,  and  who  cannot  obtain  more. 

"  The  providential  dispensation  of  God,  in  the  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  his  Church,  fully  illustrates  the  truth  of  this  principle, 
so  plainly  in  accordance  vrith  his  word.    That  the  education  of  tl>e 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       127 

schools  is  of  great  advautage  to  the  miuister  truly  trained  in  the 
word  of  truth,  has  been  illustrated  by  the  labors  of  Paul,  Augus- 
tin,  Calvin,  Beza,  Davies,  Edwards,  and  a  host  of  others  who 
have  stood  forth  in  their  different  ages  the  most  prominent  of  all 
the  ministry  of  their  day,  and  the  most  efficient  workmen  in  the 
cause  of  Christ;  while  in  the  eleven  Apostles,  in  the  mass  of 
the  ministry  of  that  day,  and  of  all  other  times  and  places,  God 
has  manifested  that  he  will  work  out  the  greater  portion  of  his 
purposes  by  men  of  no  previous  training,  and  educated  only  in 
the  mysteries  of  that  truth  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

''Never  has  he  illustrated  that  principle  more  fully  than  in 
connection  with  the  progress  of  the  principles  of  our  own  denom- 
ination. We  have  had  our  men  of  might  and  power  who  have 
shown  the  advantages  of  scholastic  education  as  a  basis,  but  we 
have  also  seen  the  great  instruments  of  our  progress  to  have  been 
the  labors  of  a  much  humbler  class.  Trace  our  history  back, 
either  through  the  centuries  that  have  long  passed  away,  or  in 
the  workings  of  God  during  the  last  hundred  years,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  mass  of  the  vineyard  laborers  have  been  from  the 
ranks  of  fishermen  and  tax-gatherers,  cobblers  and  tinkers,  weavers 
and  ploughmen,  to  whom  God  has  not  disdained  to  impart  gifts, 
and  whom  he  has  qualified  as  his  ambassadors  by  the  presence  of 
that  Spirit  by  which,  and  not  by  might,  wisdom,  or  power,  is  the 
work  of  the  Lord  accomplished. 

''  The  Baptists  of  America,  especially,  should  be  the  last  to 
forget  this  method  of  working  on  the  part  of  their  Master,  and  the 
first  to  retrace  any  steps  which  would  seem  to  indicate  such  forget- 
fulness.  It  has  been  signally  manifested  in  the  establishment  of 
their  faith  and  principles.  The  names  which  have  been  identi- 
fied with  our  growth  have  been  those  of  men  of  no  collegiate 
education,  of  no  learning  or  rhetorical  eloquence,  of  no  instruction 
even  in  schools  of  theology.  Hervey,  Gano,  Bennet,  Semple, 
Broaddus,  Armstrong,  Mercer,  who  were  these  ?  Men  of  education, 
of  collegiate  training,  of  theological  schools  ?  Nay,  indeed.  All 
praise  to  those  who  did  possess  any  of  these  advantages !  They 
were  burning  and  shining  lights.  They  hid  neither  talents  nor 
opportunities,  but  devoted  them  to  the  cause  they  loved,  and 
accomplished  much  in  its  behalf.  They  maintained  positions 
which  perhaps  none  others  could  have  occupied.  But  their  number 
was  not  sufficient  fur  the  work  of  the  Lord;  and  he  gave  a  multi- 


128  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

tude  of  others,  —  men  who  were  found  in  labors  oft,  in  wearisome 
toils  by  day  and  by  night,  in  heat  or  iu  cold,  facing  dangers  of 
every  kind,  enduring  private  and  public  persecution,  travelling 
through  swamp  and  forest  to  carry  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation 
to  the  lost  and  perishing  of  our  country.  And  the  Baptists  can 
neither  forget  them  nor  the  principle  taught  us  in  their  labors,  by 
the  providence  of  God.  Whatever  may  be  the  course  of  those 
who  have  the  training  of  their  ministry,  these  ideas  have  sunk  so 
deeply  into  the  minds  of  the  denomination  that  they  can  never 
be  eradicated.  And  the  day  will  yet  come,  perhaps  has  already 
come,  when  the  churches  will  rise  in  their  strength  and  demand 
that  our  Theological  Institutions  make  educational  provisions  for 
the  mass  of  their  ministry. 

I  have  spoken  of  our  miuistry  in  the  past,  as  composed  of  men 
whose  success  illustrates  the  theory  of  the  need  only  of  theologi- 
cal education.  And  yet  it  is  apparent  that  they  enjoyed  none  of 
the  advantages  for  that  purpose  which  are  connected  with  the  pre- 
sent arrangements  for  study.  In  the  absence  of  these,  however, 
they  did  attain  to  the  amount  of  theological  education  which  is 
essential.  This  was  accomplished  through  excessive  labor,  exer- 
cised by  minds  capable  of  mighty  efforts,  and  drawn  forth  under 
circumstances  favorable  to  their  development.  When  we  look 
attentively  at  the  record  they  have  left  us,  or  contemplate  those  of 
them  whom  God's  mercy  to  us  permits  yet  to  linger  with  us,  we 
perceive  that  they  were  not  the  uneducated  ministers  commonly 
supposed.  It  is  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  they  had  not  the 
learning  of  the  schools.  A  few  books  of  theology  —  perhaps  a 
single  commentary  —  formed,  with  their  Bibles,  their  whole  ap- 
paratus of  instruction,  and  measured  the  extent  of  their  reading. 
But  of  these  books  they  were  wont  to  make  themselves  masters. 
By  a  course  of  incessant  study,  accompanied  by  examinations  of 
the  word  of  God,  they  were  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  pro- 
cesses and  results  of  the  best  thoughts  of  their  authors  that  they 
became,  for  all  practicable  purposes,  almost  the  same  men.  And 
if,  by  any  course  of  training,  substantially  of  the  same  kind,  our 
theological  schools  can  restore  to  us  such  a  mass  ministry  as  was 
then  enjoyed,  the  days  of  our  progress  and  prosperity  will  be  real- 
ized to  have  but  just  begun;  and  we  shall  go  forward,  by  the 
help  of  the  Lord,  to  possess  the  whole  land  which  lieth  bef(^re 
us.     If  by  any  means  to  these  can  be  added  at  least  fivefold  the 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.       129 

number  of  those  now  educated  in  the  regular  course  of  theology, 
I  doubt  not  but  it  will  be  felt  that  the  most  sanguine  hopes  they 
have  ever  excited  will  be  more  than  fulfilled." 

He  now  proceeds  to  inquire  whether  arrangements  can 
actually  be  made  for  offering  theological  education  to  that 
great  mass  of  ministers  who  have  not  been  to  college. 

''  I  believe,  gentlemen,  that  it  can  be  done;  and  more  than 
this,  that  in  the  attempt  to  do  it  we  shall  accomplish  an  abun- 
dantly greater  work.  Let  us  abandon  the  false  principle  which 
has  so  long  controlled  us,  and  adopt  the  one  which  God  points 
out  to  us  by  his  word  and  his  providence,  and  from  the  very 
supplies  God  now  gives  to  us  may  be  wrought  out  precisely  such 
a  ministry.  Those  who  have  entered  upon  the  work  will  be 
rendered  fully  capable  to  perform  its  duties,  and  numbers  besides 
will  be  called  forth  to  it  who  have  heretofore  been  restrained  by 
insurmountable  obstacles." 

The  suggestions  next  offered,  as  to  which  seminary 
studies  may  be  pursued  by  this  great  mass  of  students, 
need  not  be  here  introduced,  since  the  more  fully  developed 
plans  which  a  year  or  two  later  were  wrought  out,  with  his 
assistance,  and  introduced  into  the  organization  of  the 
Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  will  be  given  in 
our  next  chapter.  He  now  proceeds  to  restate  the  benefits 
of  the  change  he  is  advocating:  — 

'^  By  the  means  proposed,  the  theological  school  will  meet  the 
wants  of  a  large  class  of  those  who  now  enter  the  ministry  with- 
out the  advantages  of  such  instruction,  —  a  class  equally  vrith 
their  more  learned  associates  burning  with  earnest  zeal  for  the 
glory  of  God  aud  deep  convictions  of  the  value  of  immortal 
souls,  one  possessed  of  natural  gifts  capable,  even  with  limited 
knowledge,  of  enchaining  the  attention,  affecting  the  hearts,  and 
enlightening  the  minds  of  many  who  surround  them  ;  a  class 
composed,  however,  of  those  who,  with  few  exceptions,  soon  find 
themselves  exhausted  of  their  materials,  forced  to  repeat  the  same 
topics  in  the  same  way,  and  finally  to  aim  at  nothing  bnt  con- 
tinuous exhortation,  bearing  constantly  upon  the  same  point,  or, 

9 


130  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

as  is  oftentimes  the  case,  destitute  of  any  point  at  all.  In  their 
present  condition  these  ministers  are  of  comparatively  little  value 
to  the  churches,  having  no  capacity  to  feed  them  with  the  word 
of  God,  affording  no  attractions  to  bring  a  congregation  to  the 
house  of  God,  and  no  power  to  set  before  them  when  gathered 
there  such  an  exposition  of  the  word  of  God  as  may,  through 
the  influences  of  his  Spirit,  awaken  them  to  penitence,  and  lead 
to  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  What  the  same  men  might 
become,  were  they  better  instructed,  is  apparent  from  the  results 
attained  by  men  of  the  same  previous  education,  who,  possessed  of 
more  leisure,  or  of  a  greater  natural  taste  for  study,  have  so 
improved  themselves  as  to  occupy  positions  of  greater  respecta- 
bility and  usefulness. 

"  The  class  of  men  whose  cause  I  now  plead  before  you  is,  of 
all  those  which  furnish  material  for  our  ministry,  that  which  most 
needs  the  theological  training  I  would  ask  for  it.  Every  argu- 
ment for  theological  schools  bears  dire(;tly  in  fiivor  of  its  interests. 
Are  such  schools  founded  that  our  ministry  may  not  be  ignorant 
of  the  truth?  Which  class  of  that  ministry  is  more  ignorant  than 
this  ?  Is  it  the  object  of  their  endowment  that  such  education  may 
be  cheapened?  Who  are  generally  in  more  straitened  circum- 
stances ?  Is  it  designed  to  produce  an  abundant,  able,  faithful, 
and  practical  ministry?  Where  are  the  materials  more  abun- 
dant ?  Whence,  for  the  amount  of  labor  expended,  will  come 
more  copious  harvests  ?  So  that  it  appears  that  whatever  may 
be  our  obligations  to  other  classes,  or  the  advantages  to  be  gained 
in  their  education,  the  mere  statement  of  them  impresses  upon  us 
our  duty,  and  the  yet  greater  advantages  to  be  gained  by  the 
education  of  that  class  which  should  comprise  two  thirds  at  least 
of  those  who  receive  a  theological  education. 

''  The  men  who  go  from  college  walls  untaught  in  theology 
have  yet  a  training  and  an  amount  of  knowledge  of  incalculable 
benefit.  They  can  do  something  to  make  up  their  deficiencies. 
But  what  chance  is  there  for  these  others  ?  They  know  not  how 
to  begin  to  study.  Let  one  of  them  take  up  the  Scriptures,  and 
he  finds  hiriiself  embarrassed  in  the  midst  of  statements  which 
the  Church  for  centuries  after  the  Apostles  had  not  fully  har- 
monized,—  statements  which  constitute  the  fiicts  of  theology, 
from  which,  in  like  manner  with  other  sciences,  by  processes  of 
induction  and  comparison,  the  absolute  truth  must  be  established. 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       131 

If  to  escape  the  difficulty  he  turns  to  a  text-book  of  theology,  he 
is  puzzled  at  once  by  technicalities  so  easily  understood  by  those 
better  instructed  that  this  technical  character  is  totally  unper- 
ceived.  If  he  turns  in  this  dilemma  to  our  seminaries,  he  finds 
no  encouragement  to  enter.  A  man  of  age,  perhaps  of  family,  he 
is  called  upon  to  spend  years  of  study  in  the  literary  and  scientific 
departments  before  he  is  allowed  to  suppose  that  he  can  profitably 
pursue  theology.  Straitened,  perhaps,  in  his  circumstances,  and 
unwilling  to  partake  of  the  bounty  of  others,  he  is  told  that  he 
must  study  during  a  number  of  years,  his  expenses  during  which 
would  probably  exhaust  fivefold  his  little  store.  With  a  mind 
capable  of  understanding  and  perceiving  the  truth,  and  of  express- 
ing judicious  opinions  upon  any  subject,  the  facts  of  which  he 
comprehends,  he  is  told  that  he  must  pass  through  a  course  of 
study,  the  chief  value  of  which  is  to  train  the  mind,  and  which 
will  only  benefit  him  by  the  amount  of  knowledge  it  will  inci- 
dentally convey.  I  can  readily  imagine  the  despair  with  which 
that  man  would  be  filled  who,  impelled  by  a  conviction  that  it  is 
his  duty  to  preach  the  Gospel,  contemplates  under  these  circum- 
stances the  provisions  which  the  friends  of  an- educated  ministry 
have  made  for  him.  We  know  not  how  many  afiected  by  that 
sentiment  are  at  this  moment  longing  to  enter  upon  preparation 
for  a  work  which  they  feel  God  has  intrusted  only  to  those  who, 
because  of  their  knowledge  of  his  word,  have  an  essential  ele- 
ment of  aptness  to  teach.  Be  it  yours,  gentlemen,  to  reanimate 
their  drooping  hopes  by  opening  up  befoi'e  them  the  means  of 
attaining  this  qualification." 

But  he  holds  that  great  benefits  will  also  follow  in 
regard  to  college-bred  men. 

'^  The  adoption  of  the  true  principle  will  not  only  tend,  how- 
ever, to  secure  for  us  this  education  in  the  masses,  which  we  need, 
but  will  also  increase  fivefold  the  number  of  those  who  will 
receive  a  thorough  theological  education.  It  will  do  this  by  the 
change  of  policy  to  M-hich  it  will  lead  in  reference  to  another  class 
of  our  candidates  for  the  ministry. 

^'  We  have  among  us  a  number  of  men  who  have  enjoyed  all 
the  advantages  of  college  life,  but  who  have  not  been  able,  or 
willing,  to  spend    the  additional    years    needed   for   theological 


132  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

study.  These  are  possessed  of  far  greater  advantages  than  those 
of  the  other  class,  —  men  of  polished  education,  of  well-trained 
minds,  capable  of  extensive  usefulness  to  the  cause  of  Christ ;  but 
their  deficiencies  are  plainly  apparent,  and  readily  traceable  to  the 
lack  of  a  theological  education.  They  are  educated  men,  but  not 
educated  ministers;  for,  while  familiar  with  all  the  sciences  which 
form  parts  of  the  college  curriculum,  they  are  ignorant  for  the 
most  part  of  that  very  science  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all 
their  ministerial  labors.  The  labors  of  their  pastoral  charges 
prevent  such  study  of  the  word  of  God,  either  exegetically  or 
systematically,  as  will  enable  them  to  become  masters  of  its  con- 
tents. Having  entered  upon  the  work  of  the  ministry,  however, 
they  are  forced  to  press  forward,  encountering  difficulties  at  every 
step,  —  fearing  to  touch  upon  many  doctrines  of  Scripture  lest 
they  misstate  them,  and  frequently  guilty  of  such  misstatements 
even  in  the  presentation  of  the  simpler  topics  they  attempt, 
because  they  fail  to  recognize  the  important  connections  which 
exist  among  all  the  truths  of  God.  A  few,  indeed,  possessed  of 
giant  minds,  capable  of  the  most  accurate  investigations,  and 
filled  with  indomitable  energy  in  the  pursuit  of  what  they  feel  to 
be  needful,  overcome  every  obstacle,  and  attain  to  knowledge 
often  superior  to  that  of  others  whose  training  has  been  more 
advantageous.  But  the  vast  majority  find  themselves  burdened 
with  a  weight  which  they  cannot  remove,  and  by  which  they  feel 
that  their  energies  are  almost  destroyed.  It  is  needless  to  say  of 
these  that  the  churches  do  not  grow  under  their  ministry ;  that, 
not  having  partaken  of  strong  meat,  they  cannot  impart  it ;  and 
that  their  hearers  pass  on  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  awakened, 
indeed,  to  practical  duties,  made  in  many  respects  efficient  in  co- 
operating with  Christ's  people,  but  not  built  up  to  this  condition 
on  their  most  holy  faith,  but  upon  other  motives,  which,  however 
good,  are  really  insufficient  for  the  best  progress,  —  at  least  of  their 
own  spiritual  natures.  Such  is  not  the  position  in  the  ministry 
which  four-fifths  of  our  educated  men  should  occupy.  They  will 
tell  you  themselves,  gentlemen,  that  this  should  not  be  the  case. 
If  due  to  their  own  precipitancy,  they  will  attach  blame  to  them- 
selves ;  but  if  it  result  from  the  exclusiveness  of  theological  schools, 
their  declaration  is  equivalent  to  testimony  in  favor  of  its  removal, 
and  of  the  admission  of  all  who  are  capable  of  pursuing  the  regu- 
lar course  to  participate  in  its  advantages.     The  disturbances  felt 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       133 

about  unsettled  doctrines,  the  inability  experienced  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  the  doctrinal  mistakes  realized  as  frequently 
committed,  have  long  since  convinced  them  that  all  of  their  other 
education  is  of  but  little  value  compared  vv^ith  that  knowledge  of 
theology  which  they  have  lost  in  its  acquisition. 

''  The  theory  of  the  theological  school  should  doubtless  be  to 
urge  upon  every  one  to  take  full  courses  in  both  departments; 
but  when  this  is  not  possible,  it  should  give  to  those  who  are 
forced  to  select  between  them,  the  opportunity  of  omitting  the 
collegiate,  and  entering  at  once  upon  the  theological,  course.  I 
see  not  how  any  one  can  rationally  question  that  many,  if  not  all, 
of  those  who  are  fitted  for  the  Sophomore,  or  even  the  Freshman, 
class  in  college  are  prepared,  so  far  as  knowledge  of  books  or 
languages  is  concerned,  to  enter  with  very  great,  though  not  with 
the  utmost,  profit  upon  the  study  of  theology.  The  amount  of 
Greek  and  Latin  acquired  is  ample  for  this  purpose.  The  study 
of  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  is  commenced  in  the  theological  course; 
while  that  which  is  really  the  main  object  for  the  younger  men  in 
the  collegiate  course,  the  training  and  forming  of  the  mind  so 
far  as  at  all  practicable,  will  for  the  older  students  have  been 
already  accomplished,  or  for  them  and  for  the  younger  ones  may 
be  compensated  in  great  part  by  that  more  thorough  training  in 
the  studies  of  the  Seminary  necessary  to  all  who  would  acquire 
such  knowledge  of  theology  as  will  make  them  fully  acquainted 
with  its  truths." 

The  views  of  the  last  paragraph  and  of  that  which  fol- 
lows would  not  be  acceptable  to  some  college  presidents 
and  professors,  and  are  not  a  necessary  part  of  Dr.  Boyce's 
general  scheme.  Perhaps  the  best  practical  course  would 
be  that  seminary  professors  and  students  should  never 
encourage  college  men  —  save  in  highly  exceptional  cases 
—  to  break  off  their  college  course  and  enter  the  seminar}^; 
and  that  college  professors  and  students  should  not  treat 
it  as  an  unpardonable  sin  if  some  college  men  do  quit 
college  to  enter  a  theological  school  at  once.  After  all,  the 
students  must  be  treated  as  free;  and  their  own  instinctive 
judgments,  after  proper  counsel,  will  oftener  lead  them 
right  than  wrong. 


1.34  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

''  Since  this  is  the  case,  why  compel  this  chiss  to  spend  their  time 
in  studies  which,  however  valuable  in  themselves,  have  but  a 
secondary  importance,  compared  with  those  they  are  made  to 
supersede  ?  If  there  be  any  who  will  pursue  the  studies  of  both 
departments,  their  number  will  never  be  diminished  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  plan  proposed.  If  it  will,  better  that  this  be  so  than 
that  so  many  others  neglect  theology.  But  we  may  confidently 
believe  that  the  results  will  only  be  to  take  from  the  collegiate 
course  those  who  would  neglect  the  other,  and  cause  them  to 
spend  the  same  number  of  years  in  the  study  of  that  which  has  an 
immediate  bearing  upon  their  work.  It  is  simply  a  choice  as  to 
certain  men  between  a  thorough  literary  and  a  thorough  theo- 
logical course.  The  former  may  make  a  man  more  refined  and 
intelligent,  better  able  to  sustain  a  position  of  influence  with  the 
world,  and  more  capable  of  illustrating,  by  a  wide  range  of 
science,  the  truth  he  may  have  arrived  at ;  the  latter  will  improve 
his  Christian  graces,  will  impart  to  him  the  whole  range  of 
revealed  truth,  will  make  him  the  instructor  of  his  people,  truly 
the  man  of  God  prepared  in  all  things  to  give  to  each  one  his 
portion  in  due  season." 

He  now  concludes  his  discussion  of  the  first  change 
proposed,  by  insisting  that  it  will  involve  no  radical  alter- 
ations in  the  w^orking  of  a  theological  school,  and  that  it 
will  promote  just  views  of  ministerial  education. 

''  The  same  course  of  Systematic  Theology  will  be  sufficient  for 
all  classes,  the  advantages  possessed  by  those  more  highly  edu- 
cated enabling  them  simply  to  add  to  the  text-book  or  lectures 
the  examination  of  Turrettin  or  some  other  prescribed  author. 
In  the  study  of  Scripture  Interpretation,  it  may  be  necessary  to 
make  two  divisions,  though  experience  will  probably  prove  th.e 
pi'acticability  even  of  uniting  these.  There  will  be  needed  for  all 
classes  the  same  instruction  in  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  in 
Pastoral  Theology,  in  the  analysis  of  texts,  the  construction  of 
skeletons,  and  the  composition  of  essays  and  sermons  ;  and  in  all 
of  these  the  classes  may  be  united.  So  that,  really,  we  shall  only 
so  fiir  revolutionize  the  institution  as  to  add  numbers  to  the 
classes,  and  permit  some  of  those  whom  we  add  to  take  up  those 
studies  only  which  a  plain  English  education  will  enable  them  to 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       135 

pursue  profitably.  All  the  inconvenience  which  may  accrue 
therefrom  will  be  gladly  endured  by  all  for  the  benefit  of  the 
masses,  and  because  of  the  mutual  love  and  esteem  which,  by 
their  throwing  together,  will  be  fostered  between  the  most  highly 
educated  and  the  plainest  of  our  ministry. 

*'  In  adopting  this  change  we  are  so  far  from  saying  that  educa- 
tion is  unnecessary  that  we  proclaim  its  absolute  necessity.  We 
undertake,  however,  to  point  out  what  education  it  is  that  is  thus 
essential,  and  what  that  which  is  only  valuable ;  and  while  we 
urge  upon  all  to  acquire  all  useful  knowledge  as  an  aid  to  that 
work,  we  point  out  the  knowledge  of  the  word  of  Grod  as  that 
which  is  first  in  importance,  and  we  provide  the  means  by  which 
this  second  class  may  pursue  its  appropriate  studies,  and  those  by 
which  adequate  theological  instruction  may  be  given  to  the  four- 
fifths  of  our  ministry  who  now  enjoy  no  means  of  instruction. 
And  we  look  with  confidence  for  the  blessing  <»f  God  upon  this 
plan,  not  because  we  believe  that  he  favors  an  ignorant  ministry, 
but  because,  knowing  that  he  requires  that  his  ministry  be 
instructed,  and  that  by  his  word  and  his  providence  he  has 
pointed  out  the  nature  of  the  learning  he  demands,  we  believe 
that  the  plan  proposed  is  based  upon  these  indications ;  and  that 
his  refusal  to  send  forth  laborers  has  been  chastisement  infiicted 
upon  us  that  we  may  be  brought  back  to  his  own  plans,  which  we 
have  abandoned  for  those  of  men." 

The  second  change  v/liicb  Professor  Boyce  suggests  is 
that  after  completing  the  usual  course  of  theological  study, 
some  students  should  be  encouraged  to  remain  for  further 
graduate  studies.  A  proper  provision  for  such  graduate 
studies  would  tend  to  promote  theological  scholarship  in 
our  countr}^ 

*'  It  has  been  felt  as  a  sore  evil  that  we  have  been  dependent  in 
great  part  upon  the  criticism  of  Germany  for  all  the  more  learned 
investigations  in  Biblical  Criticism  and  Exegesis,  and  that  in  the 
study  of  the  development  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  as  well  as 
of  its  oatward  progress,  we  have  been  compelled  to  depend  upon 
works  in  which  much  of  error  has  been  mingled  with  truth,  owing 
to  the  defective  standpoint  occupied  by  their  authors. 

"And  although  the  disadvantages  of  American  scholars  have 


136  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

been  realized,  arising  from  tlie  want  of  adequate  theological 
libraries,  as  well  as  from  the  inaccessible  nature  of  much  other 
material,  it  has  been  felt  that  it  has  been  in  great  part  due  to  the 
limited  extent  to  which  the  study  of  theological  science  has  been 
pursued  among  us,  that  we  have  been  so  much  dependent  upon 
others,  so  unable  to  push  forward  investigations  for  ourselves,  and 
even  so  inadequately  acquainted  with  the  valuable  results  of  others 
who  have  accomplished  the  work  for  us.  But  a  few  perhaps  have 
participated  in  this  sentiment,  but  the  evil  which  awakens  it  is 
not,  therefore,  the  less  momentous." 

In  this  matter  Baptists  ought  to  feel  themselves  specially 
concerned. 

"  It  is  an  evil  which  may  be  regarded  as  pervading  the  whole 
field  of  American  religious  scholarship,  and  the  remedy  should  be 
sought  alike  by  all  denominations.  It  is  a  matter  of  the  deepest 
interest  to  all  that  we  should  be  placed  in  a  position  of  indepen- 
dence in  this  matter,  and  that  our  rising  ministry  should  be 
trained  under  the  scholarship  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind,  which, 
from  its  nature,  as  well  as  from  the  circumstances  which  surround 
it,  is  eminently  fitted  to  weigh  evidence,  and  to  decide  as  to  its 
appropriateness  and  its  proper  limitations.  But  the  obligation 
resting  on  the  Baptist  denomination  is  far  higher  than  this.  It 
extends  not  merely  to  matters  of  detail,  hut  to  those  of  vital  interest. 
Tlie  history  of  religious  literature  and  of  Christian  scholarship 
has  been  a  history  of  Baptist  wrongs.  We  have  been  overlooked, 
ridiculed,  and  defamed.  Critics  have  committed  the  grossest  per- 
versions, violated  the  plainest  rules  of  criticism,  and  omitted  points 
which  could  not  have  been  developed  without  benefit  to  us.  His- 
torians who  have  professed  to  write  the  history  of  the  Church 
have  either  utterly  ignored  the  presence  of  those  of  our  faith,  or 
classed  them  among  fanatics  and  heretics ;  or,  if  forced  to  acknowl- 
edge the  prevalence  of  our  principles  and  practice  among  the 
earliest  churches,  have  adopted  such  false  theories  as  to  church 
power,  and  the  development  and  growth  of  the  truth  and  principles 
of  Scripture,  that  by  all,  save  their  most  discerning  readers,  our 
pretensions  to  an  early  origin  and  a  continuous  existence  have 
been  rejected. 

"  The  Baptists  in  the  past  have  been  entirely  too  iudifierent  to 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.      137 

the  position  they  thus  occupy.  They  have  depended  too  much 
upon  the  known  strength  of  their  principles,  and  the  ease  with 
which  from  Scripture  they  could  defend  them.  They  have  therefore 
neglected  many  of  those  means  which  extensive  learning  affords, 
and  which  have  been  used  to  great  advantage  in  support  of  other 
opinions.  It  is  needless  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  we  can  no  longer 
consent  to  occupy  this  position.  We  owe  a  change  to  ourselves, 
—  as  Christians,  bound  to  show  an  adequate  reason  for  the  dif- 
ferences between  us  and  others ;  as  men  of  even  moderate 
scholarship,  that  it  may  appear  that  we  have  not  made  the  gross 
errors  in  philology  and  criticism  which  we  must  have  made  if 
we  be  not  right  ;  as  the  successors  of  a  glorious  spiritual  ancestry, 
illustrated  by  heroic  martyrdom,  by  the  profession  of  noble  prin- 
ciples, by  the  maintenance  of  true  doctrines  ;  as  the  Church  of 
Christ,  which  he  has  ever  preserved  as  the  witness  for  his  truth, 
by  which  he  has  illustrated  his  wonderful  ways,  and  shown  that 
his  promises  are  sure  and  steadfast.  Nay,  we  owe  it  to  Christ 
himself,  whose  truth  we  hold  so  distinctively  as  to  separate  us 
from  all  others  of  his  believing  people  ;  to  whom  we  look  con- 
fidently to  make  these  principles  triumphant ;  for  whose  sake,  on 
their  account,  men  have  been  ever  found  among  us  M^illing  to  sub- 
mit to  banishment,  imprisonment,  or  martyrdom  ;  and  for  whose 
sake,  in  defence  of  the  same  truth,  we  are  willing  now  to  bear  the 
scorn  and  reproach,  not  of  the  world  only,  but  even  of  those  who 
love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

He  proceeds  to  inquire  how  this  object  can  be 
accomplished :  — 

''It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  any  plan  which  can 
be  devised  must  be  based  upon  the  presence  in  the  institution 
of  a  good  theological  library,  —  one  which  shall  not  only  be 
filled  with  the  gathered  lore  of  the  past,  but  also  endowed  with 
the  means  of  annual  increase.  Without  this,  no  institution 
can  pursue  extensive  courses  of  study,  or  contribute  anything 
directly  to  the  advancement  of  learning.  The  professor  is  cut  off 
from  valuable  and  necessary  books,  and  the  student  hindered 
from  making  even  the  least  important  investigations  in  the 
course  of  study  he  is  pursuing. 

"  The  plan  I  propose  to  you  supposes  the  possession  of  such  a 


138  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES   P.   BOYCE. 

library ;  and  this,  even  if  it  be  such,  is  its  only  peculiar  item  of 
expense.  Taking  the  idea  from  the  provision  made  in  some  of 
our  institutions  for  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  it  has  occurred 
to  me  that  an  additional  course  of  study  might  be  provided  for 
those  who  may  be  graduates  of  theological  institutions.  This 
course  might  extend  over  one  or  two  years,  according  to  the 
amount  of  study  the  student  may  propose  to  accomplish.  In 
it  the  study  of  the  Oriental  languages  might  be  extended  to  the 
Arabic  and  the  Syriac.  The  writing  of  exegetical  theses  would 
furnish  subjects  for  investigation,  and  give  a  more  ample  acquaint- 
ance with  the  original  text  and  with  the  laws  of  its  interpretation. 
The  text-books  or  lectures  studied  in  Systematic  and  Polemic 
Theology  could  be  compared  with  kindred  books,  the  theories  of 
opponents  examined  in  their  own  writings,  and  notes  taken  for 
future  use  from  rare  and  costly  books.  These  and  similar  studies, 
which  should  be  laid  down  in  a  well-digested  course,  would  bestow 
accurate  scholarship,  train  the  student  in  the  methods  of  origi- 
nal investigation,  give  him  confidence  in  the  results  previously 
attained,  and  open  to  him  resources  from  which  he  might  draw 
extensively  in  interpreting  the  Scriptures,  and  in  setting  forth  the 
truths  they  contain.  The  result  would  be  that  a  band  of  scholars 
w(»uld  go  forth,  from  almost  every  one  of  whom  we  might  expect 
valuable  contributions  to  our  theological  literature. 

''It  is  to  be  expected  that  but  few  would  take  advantage  of 
this  course.  Such  would  certainly  be  the  case  at  first.  The  only 
result  would  be  that  but  little  additional  provision  will  be  needed. 
Two  additional  recitations  a  week  for  each  of  three  or  four  pro- 
fessors would  be  more  than  adequate.  And  though  such  students 
should  not  be  more  than  a  twentieth  part  of  those  graduated, 
though  not  more  than  one  each  year,  will  not  their  value  to 
the  denomination  more  than  counterbalance  the  little  additional 
attention  which  will  thus  be  given  ?  " 

It  is  then  further  shown  that  these  arrangements  would 
help  to  train  missionaries,  such  as  may  wish  to  translate  the 
Scriptures  into  heathen  languages,  or  to  encounter  learned 
and  able  teachers,  heathen  or  Mohammedan.  This  would 
also  give  special  training  of  various  kinds  to  men  suited 
to  become  professors  in  our  colleges,  seminaries,  etc. 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       139 

The  tliird  change,  proposed  by  this  address,  to  be  made 
in  theological  institutions  was  that  a  ''declaration  of 
doctrine  "  should  be  adopted,  which  persons  assuming 
professorships  should  be  required  to  sign,  pledging  them- 
selves to  teach  in  accordance  with,  and  not  contrary  to, 
the  doctrines  thus  laid  down.  It  is  urged  as  very  desir- 
able that  every  particular  church  among  us  should  have 
some  statement  of  doctrine  in  which  its  members  may  be 
instructed.  It  is  shown  to  be  still  more  important  to 
examine  carefully  the  men  about  to  be  ordained  as  min- 
isters, in  order  to  see  whether  they  are  sound  in  the 
faith, —  a  duty  generally  recognized  among  us,  and  more 
or  less  faithfully  performed  by  churches  and  ordaining 
presbyteries.  And  then  it  is  argued,  a  fortiori,  that  above 
all  we  ought  to  ascertain  and  guard  the  doctrinal  sound- 
ness of  a  theological  instructor. 

''  But  the  theological  professor  is  to  teach  ministers,  —  to  place 
the  trath,  and  all  the  errors  connected  w^ith  it,  in  such  a  manner 
before  his  pupils  that  they  shall  arrive  at  the  truth  without  dan- 
ger of  any  mixture  of  error  therewith.  He  cannot  do  this  if  he 
have  any  erroneous  tendencies,  and  hence  his  opinions  must  be 
expressly  affirmed  to  be,  upon  every  point,  in  accordance  with 
the  truth  we  believe  to  be  taught  in  the  Scriptures." 

This  point  is  strongly  set  forth  and  strikinglj^  illus- 
trated, as  follows:  — 

''  It  is  with  a  single  man  that  error  usually  commences ;  and 
when  such  a  man  has  inHuence  or  position,  it  is  impossible  to 
estimate  the  evil  that  will  attend  it.  Ecclesiastical  history  is  full 
of  warning  upon  this  subject.  Scarcely  a  single  heresy  has  ever 
blighted  the  Church  which  has  not  owed  its  existence  or  its 
development  to  that  one  man  of  power  and  ability  whose  name 
has  always  been  associated  with  its  doctrines.  And  yet,  seldom 
has  an  opinion  been  thus  advanced  which  has  not  subsequently 
had  its  advocate  in  every  age,  and  which  in  some  ages  has  not 
extensively  prevailed. 


140  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

"  The  history  of  our  own  denomination  in  this  country  furnishes 
an  illustration.  Playing  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  weak  and 
ignorant  among  our  people,  decrying  creeds  as  an  infringement 
upon  the  rights  of  conscience,  making  a  deep  impression  hy 
his  extensive  learning  and  great  abilities,  Alexander  Campbell 
threatened  at  one  time  the  total  destruction  of  our  faith.  Had 
he  occupied  a  chair  in  one  of  our  theological  institutions,  that 
destruction  might  have  been  completed.  There  would  have  been 
time  to  disseminate  widely  and  fix  deeply  his  principles,  before  it 
became  necessary  to  avow  them  publicly ;  and  when  this  neces- 
sity arrived,  it  would  have  been  attended  by  the  support  of  the 
vast  majority  of  our  best  educated  ministers.  Who  can  estimate 
the  evil  which  would  then  have  ensued  ? 

"  The  danger  w^hich  threatened  in  this  instance  may  assail  us 
again.  Another  such,  and  yet  another,  ma^'  arise,  and,  favored 
by  better  circumstances,  may  instil  false  principles  into  the  minds 
of  his  pupils,  and,  sending  them  forth  to  occupy  the  prominent 
pulpits  of  the  land,  may  influence  all  our  churches,  and  the  fair 
fabric  of  our  faith  may  be  entirely  demolished. 

"  This  it  is  that  should  make  us  tremble  when  we  think  of  our 
theological  institutions.  If  there  be  any  instrument  of  our  denom- 
inational prosperity  which  we  should  guard  at  every  point,  it  is 
this.  The  doctrinal  sentiments  of  the  Faculty  are  of  far  greater 
importance  than  the  proper  investment  and  expenditure  of  its 
funds;  and  the  trusts  devolved  upon  those  who  watch  over  its 
interests  should  in  that  respect,  if  in  any,  be  sacredly  guarded." 

He  thus  concludes  as  to  the  third  proposed  change:  — 

''It  is  therefore,  gentlemen,  in  perfect  consistency  with  the 
position  of  Baptists,  as  well  as  of  Bible  Christians,  that  the  test 
of  doctrine  I  have  suggested  to  you  should  be  adopted.  It  is 
based  upon  principles  and  practices  sanctioned  by  the  authority 
of  Scripture  and  by  the  usage  of  our  people.  In  so  doing,  you 
will  be  acting  simply  in  accordance  with  propriety  and  righteous- 
ness. You  will  infringe  the  rights  of  no  man,  and  you  will  secure 
the  rights  of  those  who  have  established  here  an  instrumentality 
for  the  production  of  a  sound  ministry.  It  is  no  hardship  to 
those  who  tench  here  to  be  called  upon  to  sign  the  declaration  of 
their  principles  ;  for  there  are  fields  of  usefulness  open  elsewhere 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       141 

to  every  man,  and  none  need  accept  your  call  who  cannot  con- 
scientiously sign  your  formulary.  And  while  all  this  is  true,  you 
will  receive  by  this  an  assurance  that  the  trust  committed  to  you 
by  the  founders  is  fulfilling  in  accordance  with  their  wishes, 
that  the  ministry  that  go  forth  have  here  learned  to  distinguish 
truth  from  error,  and  to  embrace  the  former,  and  that  the  same 
precious  truths  of  the  Bible  which  were  so  dear  to  the  hearts  ot 
its  founders,  and  which  I  trust  are  equally  dear  to  yours,  will  be 
propagated  in  our  churches,  giving  to  them  vigor  and  strength, 
and  causing  them  to  flourish  by  the  godly  sentiments  and  emo- 
tions they  will  awaken  within  them.  May  God  impress  you 
deeply  with  the  responsibility  under  which  you  must  act  in 
reference  to  it !  " 

Among  the  closing  paragraphs  of  the  address,  the  fol- 
lowing ought  assuredly  to  be  quoted.  We  have  seen  that 
B.  Manly,  Jr.,  had  made  similar  suggestions  in  his  address 
at  Charleston ;  and  experience  goes  to  show  that  the  point 
in  question  is  of  very  great  importance. 

''  It  will  be  perceived  that  the  great  peculiarity  of  the  plans 
proposed  is  that  they  contemplate  gathering  all  our  students 
into  a  single  institution.  The  courses  of  study  are  all  to  be 
pursued  conjointly.  The  several  classes  of  young  men  are  to  be 
thrown  together  in  the  pursuit  of  their  respective  studies.  It  is 
for  this,  as  opposed  to  any  other  method,  that  I  would  strenuously 
contend.  The  object  is  not  the  centralization  of  power  in  a  single 
institution,  for  I  believe  the  adoption  of  these  changes  will  make 
many  seminaries  necessary.  I  advocate  a  single  one  now,  because 
the  demand  for  more  than  one  does  not  exist.  But  it  is  that  our 
young  men  may  l)e  brought  into  closer  contact  with  each  other. 
Various  prejudices  are  arising  in  our  denomination  among  the 
various  classes  of  the  ministry.  This  would  be  my  scheme  to 
remove  them.  The  young  men  should  be  so  mingled  together  as 
to  cause  each  class  to  recognize  the  value  of  the  others,  and  thus 
truly  to  break  down  entirely  any  classification.  Those  who  take 
the  plain  English  course  will  see  the  value  of  learning  in  the 
increased  facilities  for  study  it  affords  to  their  more  favored 
companions.     Those  who  have  this  learning  will  see  that  many 


142  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

of  the  other  class  are  their  superiors  in  piety,  iu  devotion  to  God, 
in  readiness  to  sacrifice  for  his  cause,  in  willingness  to  be  counted 
as  nothing,  so  that  Christ  may  be  preached.  The  recognition  of 
such  facts  will  be  mutually  beneficial.  The  less-educated  min- 
isters will  feel  that  they  have  the  confidence  and  afifection  of  all 
their  brethren;  the  better-educated  will  know  the  esteem  with 
which  they  are  regarded ;  and  the  bonds  of  mutual  love  will 
yearly  grow  stronger,  until  we  shall  see  a  ministry  of  difi'erent 
gifts,  possessed  of  extensive  attainments,  thrown  into  entirely 
different  positions  in  the  field,  yet  laboring  conjointly,  mutually 
aiding  and  supporting  one  another  in  advancing  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  in  preaching  his  glorious  gospel,  in  calling  forth  laborers 
into  his  field,  and  in  fostering  those  influences  which  shall  tend 
to  the  education  of  a  sound  and  practical  and  able  ministry." 

This  address  by  Professor  Boyce  proved  to  be  epoch- 
making  in  the  history  of  theological  education  among 
Southern  Baptists.  He  was  accustomed  to  say,  in  conver- 
sation on  the  subject,  that  his  ideas  had  been  partly 
derived  from  his  revered  instructor,  President  Wayland,  of 
Brown  University,  to  wdiom  we  have  seen  that  he  always 
felt  himself  in  many  ways  very  greatly  indebted.  Besides 
the  general  effect  of  his  lectures  and  conversations  upon 
the  quite  similarly  constituted  mind  of  young  Boyce  when 
a  student,  President  Wayland  had,  three  years  before  the 
delivery  of  Boyce's  inaugural,  given  a  notable  address  at 
the  University  of  Rochester,  by  request  of  the  New  York 
Baptist  Union  for  Ministerial  Education,  entitled,  ''The 
Apostolic  Ministry."  In  this  he  had  shown  that  our  strong 
denominational  belief  in  a  divine  call  to  the  ministry 
ought  to  have  an  important  bearing  upon  our  methods  of 
ministerial  education. 

''If  we  are  willing  to  follow,  and  not  to  lead,  the  Spirit  of 
God,  —  that  is,  if  we  educate  no  man  for  the  ministry  until  we  are 
satisfied,  not  that  he  may  he,  but  that  he  has  been,  called  of  God 
to  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  —  we  shall  always  have 
among  our  candidates  a  large  number  of  those  who  have  passed 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       143 

the  period  of  youth,  and  for  whom  the  studies  of  youth  would 
be  uusaitable,  if  not  useless.  Yet  these  are  the  very  men  to 
whom  appropriate  culture  would  be  specially  valuable.  Others, 
in  various  degrees,  have  been  more  favored  with  preparatory 
education,  and  the  means  for  more  extended  discipline.  The 
means  and  advantages  of  our  candidates  must  therefore  be  exceed- 
ingly dissimilar.  If,  then,  we  would  labor  to  give  to  the  ministry 
the  means  of  improvement,  we  must  provide  those  means  for 
them  all.  A  system  of  ministerial  education  adapted  to  the  con- 
dition of  but  one  in  twenty  of  our  candidates,  commences  with 
the  avowed  intention  of  doing  but  one -twentieth  part  of  its  work, 
and  of  helping  those  only  who  have  the  least  need  of  its  assis- 
tance. We  should  therefore  provide,  for  all  our  brethren  whom 
God  has  called  to  this  service,  the  best  instruction  in  our  power; 
adapted,  as  far  as  possible,  not  to  any  theoretical  view,  but  to  the 
actual  condition  of  the  mass  of  our  candidates,  leaving  each  indivi- 
dual, in  the  exercise  of  a  sound  and  pious  discretion,  to  deter- 
mine the  extent  to  which  he  is  able  to  avail  himself  of  our 
services.  While  means  should  be  fully  provided  for  pursuing  an 
extended  course  of  education,  we  must  never  lose  sight  of  the 
large  number  of  our  brethren  to  whom  an  extended  course  would 
be  impossible." 

These  views  of  Dr.  Wa^'-land  excited  at  the  time  consi- 
derable newspaper  discussion  on  the  part  of  educators,  the 
discourse  being  printed  in  tract  form  and  widely  circulated. 
They  probably  had  some  effect  upon  the  existing  Baptist 
Theological  Schools,  in  making  them  less  unwilling  to 
receive  students  for  a  partial  course.  But  our  Baptist 
Colleges  and  Theological  Seminaries  in  America  had  fol- 
lowed very  closely  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
pattern,  built  upon  ideas  brought  from  England  and 
Scotland;  and  any  departure  from  the  curriculum,  and 
introduction  of  men  imperfectly  prepared,  to  pursue  an 
irregular  course,  was  generall}'-  regarded  with  disfavor 
on  the  part  of  presidents  and  professors.  Dr.  Wayland 
had  several  years  earlier  made  an  earnest  effort  to  intro- 
duce different  ideas  and  methods,  through  the  re-organiza- 


144  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

tion,  in  1850,  of  Brown  University.  He  travelled  over  tlie 
United  States,  visiting  many  universities  and  colleges, 
and  finally  succeeded  in  introducing  at  Brown  a  thoroughly 
elective  method,  quite  similar  to  that  which  for  twent^'-five 
years  had  been  in  successful  operation  at  the  University 
of  Virginia.^  We  have  seen  that  he  recognized  in  ''The 
Apostolic  Ministry  "  the  propriety  of  allowing  a  theologi- 
cal student  to  exercise  some  discretion  as  to  the  extent 
of  his  theological  studies.  In  a  famous  series  of  articles 
published  in  "The  Examiner, ''  and  collected  into  a  volume 
in  October,  1856,  entitled  ''Principles  and  Practices  of 
Baptist  Churches,"  he  speaks  sarcastically  about  the  exist- 
ing theological  seminaries :  — 

"  If,  however,  a  suggestion  iu  respect  to  them  might  be  made 
without  presumption,  I  would  ask,  could  they  not  be  rendered 
more  efficient  ?  By  the  tables  already  referred  to,  they  graduate 
annually  about  one  student  and  a  half  to  each  officer  of  instruc- 
ticra.  Could  not  this  proportion  be  somewhat  exceeded?  The 
labor  of  teaching  such  classes  cannot  be  oppressive;  might  not 
other  courses,  adapted  to  other  classes  of  students,  be  introduced  ? 
So  long  as  our  seminaries  admit  none  but  those  who  have  pursued 
a  coUegiate  course  or  its  equivalent,  their  number  of  students  must 
be  small,  and  the  labor  of  instructors  not  burdensome.  ...  If  it 
might  be  done  without  offence,  I  would  ask,  might  not  more 
direct  effort  be  exerted  to  make  preachers  ?  —  I  say  preachers,  in 
distinction  from  philoh)gists,  translators,  professors,  teachers,  and 
writers  on  theology.  Other  professional  schools  aim  to  render 
men  able  in  the  practice  of  their  several  professions.  .  .  .  Why 
should  not  the  theological  school  aim  more  simply  at  making 
good  and  effective  preachers  ?     Men  need  instruction  and  practice 

1  The  writer  remembers  the  feeling  of  denominational  pride  with 
which,  as  a  student  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  he  was  introduced  to 
the  famous  president  and  author,  and  gazed  upon  his  commanding  form 
and  noble  face  while  he  sat  in  a  lecture-room.  Dr.  Gessner  Harrison 
and  Dr.  McGuffey  explained  to  Dr.  "Wayland,  in  extended  conversa- 
tions, sought  by  him,  the  nature  and  working  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  plans 
of  elective  education. 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       145 

in  the  every-day  duties  of  the  ministry.  They  should  acquire  the 
po^Ycr  —  and  it  is  a  great  power  —  of  unwritten,  earnest,  effective 
speech." 

He  expressed  gratification  that  in  Newton  particularly 
arrangements  were  now  made  for  the  especial  improvement 
of  theological  students  who  have  not  passed  through  a 
collegiate  course. 

While  Dr.  Wayland's  ideas  were  in  general  rejected,  we 
thus  perceive  that  they  had  some  effect;  and  through  the 
years  that  have  followed,  professors  in  various  Baptist 
Theological  Schools  have  earnestly  striven  to  do  their  best 
for  the  less-prepared  students.  They  have  been  embarrassed 
in  this  by  the  fact  that  all  their  work  rested  on  the  basis 
of  a  curriculum;  but,  wdiether  cheerfully  or  reluctantly, 
they  have  labored  in  this  direction.  The  recent  exclusion 
from  the  Rochester  Theological  Seminary  of  all  who  have 
not  been  prepared  by  a  college  course  or  its  equivalent; 
the  arrangement  in  the  Newton  Theological  Institution 
by  which  less-prepared  students  are  entirely  separated  from 
the  others,  and  taught  in  sej)arate  classes ;  and  various  other 
indications,  —  show  that  our  able  and  honored  Baptist  breth- 
ren engaged  in  theological  education  have  deeply  felt  the 
difficulty  of  admitting  irregulars  upon  the  basis  of  a  curri- 
culum. And  yet  the  ideas  set  forth  by  Dr.  Wayland  have 
not  ceased  to  live  among  thoughtful  Baptists  of  the  great 
North  and  Northwest.  Indeed,  he  and  Professor  Boyce 
were  but  interpreting  the  fundamental  Baptist  ideas  of  the 
ministry.  And  wherever  Baptists  have  striven  to  confine 
their  ministry  to  men  regularly  trained  in  college  and 
seminary,  thej^  are  still  comparatively  limited  in  numbers; 
while,  on  the  contrary,  wherever  they  have  encouraged  every 
man  to  preach  w^ho  felt  called  of  God  to  preach,  whom  his 
church  indorsed  as  suitable,  and  a  presbytery  as  sound, 
and  whom  the  people  were  willing  to  hear,  —  there  the 
Baptists  have  grown  rapidly,  and  are  a  people  mighty,  at 

10 


146  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES    P.  BOYCE. 

least  in  numberSj  and  great  in  tlieir  possible  future,  No 
one  need  be  surprised  if  among  our  Northern  brethren 
there  should  come  any  year  a  new  utterance  of  ideas  like 
those  of  Dr.  Wayland,  and  new  plans  for  getting  hold  in 
some  way  of  the  many  ministers  who  cannot  —  or  (what  is 
for  independent  Baptists  equivalent)  will  not  —  go  through 
a  regular  course  at  college  and  seminary. 

Some  Baptist  educators  in  the  Southern  States  were  in 
like  manner  wedded  to  the  idea  of  restricting  our  exertions 
to  the  thorough  training  of  well-prepared  men;  but  in 
general  the  history  of  Baptist  progress  in  the  South  and 
Southwest  —  the  vast  number  of  ''self-educated"  or  "un- 
educated" ministers  who  had  been  very  useful,  together 
with  the  spirit  of  local  independence  which  pervades  great 
agricultural  regions,  and  the  disposition  of  Southern  na- 
tures to  delight  much  in  the  oratorical  fervor  which  may 
be  manifested  without  high  mental  training — led  many 
thoughtful  men  among  Southern  Baptists,  in  the  ministry 
and  out  of  it,  to  see  the  wisdom  of  Boyce's  ideas.  More- 
over, these  ideas  were  embodied  in  a  representative  quali- 
fied in  an  extraordinary  manner  —  by  gifts  and  character, 
by  training  and  personal  influence,  by  youthful  vigor,  com- 
bined with  practical  wisdom  —  to  carry  these  ideas  into 
effect.  A  long  struggle  was  before  him,  which  if  foreseen 
might  well  have  been  deemed  hopeless.  But  we  can  now 
perceive  that  in  him,  and  the  older  and  younger  men  of 
whom  he  would  become  the  leader,  and  in  the  situation 
and  aspirations  of  Southern  Baptists,  there  existed  the 
elements  of  success. 

We  return  now  to  the  proposition  —  which,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Professor  Boyce,  had  been  made  by  the  South 
Carolina  Baptist  State  Convention,  and  directed  to  be 
laid  before  the  proposed  convention  in  Louisville  in  the 
following  May  —  that  the  South  Carolina  Baptists  would 
give  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  endowment  of 
a  common   theological    institution   at    Greenville   (incor- 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICxVL  SEMINARY.       147 

porating  therein  the  theological  department  of  Furman 
University),  pro^^ided  that  an  additional  hundred  thousand 
should  be  raised  elsewhere. 

The  Educational  Convention  held  in  Louisville,  May, 
1857,  in  connection  with  the  sessions  of  the  Southern 
Baptist  Convention,  included  eighty-eight  delegates,  from 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,  from  Georgia  and 
Alabama,  from  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Arkansas, 
from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  Much  interest  was  ex- 
cited by  the  fact  that  a  definite  and  generous  proposition 
had  been  made  by  the  South  Carolina  brethren,  together 
with  the  assurances  of  Professor  Boyce  and  others  that  the 
money  needed  from  that  State  could  be  raised.  A  great 
desire  was  felt  to  push  the  now  hopeful  movement  into 
practical  operation  as  speedily  as  possible.  After  much 
earnest  discussion,  it  was  agreed  to  propose  the  establish- 
ment of  the  desired  theological  institution  at  Greenville, 
S.  C,  in  the  following  year,  provided  that  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  should  be  raised  in  that  State  by 
May  1,  1858,  ready  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  trustees. 
The  interest  of  this  money  (seven  thousand)  was  to  be 
used  for  the  support  of  three  professors,  for  the  purchase 
of  books  (not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars  annually), 
and  for  paying  a  proper  agency  in  the  other  States  to 
secure  the  hundred  thousand  dollars  which  was  to  be  raised 
elsewhere ;  provided,  also,  that  recitation  and  lecture  rooms 
could  be  secured  in  Greenville  free  of  rent  for  some  years. 
It  was  further  arranged  that  if  the  remaining  hundred 
thousand  should  not  be  made  up  within  three  years,  then 
the  endowment  furnished  from  South  Carolina  should 
revert  to  the  Furman  University,  for  theological  purposes, 
and  the  contributions  collected  elsewhere  to  their  respec- 
tive donors.  These  arrangements  show  Boyce's  hand 
throughout.  They  were  bold  and  inspiring,  and  yet 
carefully  guarded.  It  was  then  proposed  that  a  special 
educational   convention  should  be  held  at  Greenville  in 


148  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

May,  1858,  to  organize  the  desired  institution,  provided 
the  South  Carolina  Baptist  Convention  should  accept 
these  conditions.  Committees  of  five  were  appointed  to 
prepare  a  plan  of  organization,  to  nominate  professors,  to 
secure  from  the  South  Carolina  Legislature  an  appropriate 
charter,  to  provide  for  a  suitable  agency  in  other  States, 
and  to  issue  an  address  to  Southern  Baptists.  In  an- 
nouncing the  Committee  on  Plan  of  Organization,  the 
President,  Dr.  B.  Manly,  Sr.,  said  apologetically  that  he 
had  appointed  comparatively  young  men,  because  it  was 
proposed  to  form  a  new  institution  suited  to  the  wants  of 
our  own  ministry,  and  young  men  were  more  likely  to  be 
successful  in  devising  new  plans.  So  he  announced  J.  P. 
Boyce,  J.  A.  Broadus,  B.  Manly,  Jr.,  E.  T.  Winkler, 
William  Williams.  This  is  worth  mentioning  because, 
as  will  hereafter  appear,  these  five  were  destined  to  be 
elected  as  professors  in  the  Seminary,  and  four  of  them  to 
serve.  Probably  the  wise  old  heads  of  the  Convention 
had  their  plans  already;  but  certainly  one  member  of  the 
committee  had  no  thought  of  such  a  thing. 

Dr.  Jeter  prepared  a  ringing  address  to  Southern  Bap- 
tists. He  showed  that  a  common  institution  was  de- 
manded, and  brethren  had  for  a  number  of  years  been 
earnestly  striving  to  compass  its  establishment.  The 
scheme  now  proposed  was  feasible,  having  been  unani- 
mously approved  by  a  body  "which  commenced  its  ses- 
sion with  very  conflicting  views.''  It  was  also  eminently 
promising,  for  Greenville  would  be  a  very  desirable  loca- 
tion, as  to  accessibility,  health,  and  cheapness  of  living. 
He  stated  that  the  Seminary  was  to  be  organized  upon  a 
new  plan :  — 

''  Being  free  from  the  shackles  imposed  by  the  old  systems  and 
established  precedents,  and  having  all  the  lights  of  experience 
and  observation  to  guide  us,  we  propose  to  found  an  institution 
suited  to  the  genius,  wants,  and  circumstances  of  our  denomina- 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.       149 

tion;  in  which  shall  be  taught  with  special  attention  the  true 
principles  of  expounding  the  Scriptures  and  the  art  of  preaching 
efficiently  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

He  guarded  a  point  on  which  some  natural  apprehension 
was  felt :  — 

"■  This  scheme  will  interfere  with  no  existing  institution.  It 
does  not  propose  to  curtail  the  labors  or  inliuence  of  any  of  our 
State  colleges.  Some  of  them  will  probably  continue  to  give,  as 
they  have  heretofore  done,  a  limited  course  of  theological  instruc- 
tion, and  those  who  find  it  desirable  will  avail  themselves  of  its 
benefits.  But  it  is  proposed  in  the  Greenville  institution  to 
furnish  a  more  thorough  course  of  instruction  than  any  as  yet 
adopted  in  our  State  seminaries ;  and  also  perhaps  a  more  Hmited 
course  for  those  students  whose  age  and  circumstances  will  not 
permit  them  to  pursue  an  extended  course.  ...  On  the  whole, 
we  cannot  but  think  that  the  divine  hand  has  guided  us  thus 
far.  Obstacles  seemingly  insuperable  have  been  removed  out  of 
the  way,  conflicting  opinions  and  interests  have  been  harmonized, 
and  a  bright  and  cheering  prospect  of  success  has  suddenly  opened 
before  us.  It  only  remains  that  we  should  trustfully  follow  the 
divine  guidance." 

In  July  the  State  Convention  of  the  Baptist  denomina- 
tion in  South  Carolina  adopted  the  Louisville  modification 
of  their  proposal,  and  appointed  Eev.  J.  P.  Boyce  as  agent 
to  collect  the  needed  $70,000.  He  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion as  professor  in  the  University,  but  the  Trustees 
declined  to  accept,  and  authorized  him  to  act  according  to 
his  own  judgment  in  regard  to  the  agency  work  during  the 
coming  year.  He.  probably  had  very  little  time  for  teach- 
ing in  the  course  of  the  next  session.  We  know  that  in 
his  two-horse  buggy,  driven  by  a  servant,  he  travelled  far 
and  wade  over  South  Carolina,  visiting  out-of-the-way 
churches,  and  planters  on  remote  plantations,  and  throwdng 
all  the  energies  and  resources  of  his  being  into  what  was 
then  and  there  a  very  large  and  difficult  undertaking.     It 


150  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

was  no  doubt  often  with  a  sense  of  heavy  sacrifice  that  the 
young  husband  and  father  left  the  bright  home  he  loved 
so  well,  with  the  already  rich  store  of  choice  books  in 
which  he  so  delighted,  for  these  laborious  and  not  always 
successful  journeys.  He  no  doubt  cheered  himself  with 
the  thought  that  all  this  would  be  only  for  part  of  one 
year.  If  he  had  foreseen  that  after  a  season  of  great  and 
ruinous  calamities  he  would  have  to  spend  a  considerable 
part  of  every  ^^ear  i]i  like  absences  for  the  Seminary's  sake, 
to  wear  himself  out  for  it,  witli  all  manner  of  heavy  sacri- 
fices, one  does  not  know  whether  even  that  strong  and 
brave  young  heart  could  have  faced  the  life-long  task. 
Our  ignorance  of  the  future  is  often,  under  the  leadings  of 
God's  providence,  a  necessary  condition  of  our  worthiest 
undertakings  and  largest  successes. 

In  August,  1857,  Professor  Boyce  called  a  meeting  in 
Richmond,  Va.,  of  the  committee  on  the  Plan  of  Organi- 
zation of  the  proposed  Seminary.  He  had  requested  B. 
Manly,  Jr.,  to  draw  np  an  abstract  of  doctrinal  principles, 
to  be  signed  by  each  professor;  had  undertaken  himself 
to  devise  the  legal  and  practical  arrangements  in  regard  to 
trustees  and  professors ;  and  had  requested  J.  A.  Broadus 
to  prepare  the  outline  of  a  plan  of  instruction.  The  last- 
mentioned  had  suggested  at  Louisville  that  the  "changes" 
proposed  in  Boyce's  address,  especially  the  apparently  dif- 
ficult matter  of  uniting  all  grades  of  theological  students 
in  the  same  institution,  could  be  effected  through  a  plan 
adapted  from  that  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  with  which 
he  was  familiar.  The  other  two  members  of  the  committee 
did  not  come.  We  met  in  Richmond,  at  the  residence  of 
Manl}',  who  was  Principal  of  the  Richmond  Pemale 
Institute,  and  discussed  together  the  portions  which  each 
had  provisionally  drawn  up.  Through  their  experience  as 
students  at  Newton  and  Princeton,  Boj^ce  and  Manly  were 
able  to  make  valuable  emendations  of  the  plan  of  elective 
education  for  a  theological  school,  which  after  much  study 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.      151 

of  theological  catalogues  had  been  drawn  in  substantial 
imitation  of  the  method  pursued  in  the  great  University, 
—  by  that  time  nearing  the  height  of  its  distinction,  hav- 
ing as  many  students  'as  were  then  found  at  Harvard  or 
Yale,  and  sending  its  graduates  to  be  professors  in  colleges 
and  universities  all  over  the  South. 

It  was  a  great  pleasure,  during  those  days  of  earnest 
conference,  to  enter  into  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
young  professor,  to  recognize  his  energy  and  wisdom,  his 
courtesy  and  delicacy,  his  broad  views  of  every  question, 
his  eager  desire  to  make  this  institution  a  success  beyond 
all  precedent,  his  true-hearted  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
Christ. 

The  last  in  this  long  series  of  educational  conventions 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  common  theological  sem- 
inary was  held  in  G-reenville,  S.  C,  May  1st,  1858.  It 
was  a  time  of  general  revival  throughout  the  South,  and 
many  pastors  were  on  that  account  kept  from  carrying  out 
their  known  purpose  of  attending  the  convention.  But 
Dr.  G.  W.  Samson  was  there  from  Washington,  who  had 
attended  two  or  three  previous  conventions  for  this  purpose, 
and  had  manifested  the  greatest  interest  in  the  enterprise. 
Drs.  Jeter  and  Poindexter  and  four  others  were  present 
from  Virginia,  with  two  from  North  Carolina,  one  from 
Louisiana,  one  from  Georgia  (Professor  William  Williams 
of  Mercer  University),  and  thirty-three  from  different 
bodies  in  South  Carolina. 

The  object  of  this  convention  was  to  adopt  a  plan  of 
organization  for  the  Seminary,  to  elect  professors,  and 
provide  for  its  going  into  operation  the  following  autumn. 
The  plan  of  organization  proposed  by  the  committee  was 
carefully  discussed,  at  many  points,  by  a  committee  for  the 
purpose,  and  by  the  whole  convention.  Drs.  Poindexter  and 
Samson  were  particularly  earnest,  various  others  also  taking 
part,  in  discussing  the  Abstract  of  Principles;  and  Dr. 
Samson  remembers  the  special  interest  that  was  taken  in 


152  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  F.   BOYCE. 

the  article  about  the  Doctrine  of  Imputation,  which  nine 
3'ears  before  had  been  discussed  in  two  long  series  of 
articles  in  the  ''  Southern  Bax^tist,"  when  young  Boyce  was 
its  editor.  Some  brethren  in  the  convention  had  their 
doubts  about  the  wisdom  of  arranging  no  curriculum,  but 
a  number  of  distinct  departments,  or  schools,  in  each  of 
which  a  separate  diploma  or  certificate  of  proficiency 
should  be  given.  But  Boyce  had  heartily  accepted  a  plan 
which  promised  to  make  it  easy  for  students  of  every  grade 
of  preparation  to  study  together  in  the  same  institution, 
and  for  the  most  part  in  the  same  classes ;  and  many  others 
cheerfully  accepted  the  scheme.  The  final  vote  as  to  every 
part  of  the  organization  is  believed  to  have  been  unan- 
imous ;  but  the  discussions  had  been  so  free  and  full  as 
to  occupy  five  days. 

Instead  of  three  professors,  as  had  been  suggested  at 
Louisville,  Boyce  boldly  proposed  the  appointment  of  four 
professors.  He  had  obtained  nearl}^  all  of  the  requisite 
$70,000,  and  was  sure  of  the  rest  in  a  few  weeks.  Part 
had  been  paid  in  cash,  and  the  remainder  was  held  in 
bonds  bearing  seven  per  cent  interest.  He  felt  confident 
that  special  contributions  for  income  could  be  had,  if  neces- 
sary; and  his  boldness  m  planning  was  upheld  by  the  fact 
—  one  not  very  common  in  the  case  of  young  ministers 
founding  institutions  —  that  he  had  a  large  private 
income.  He  had  made  arrangements  for  securing,  with- 
out rent,  the  recently  vacated  house  of  worship  of  the 
Greenville  Baptist  Cburch,  w^hich  was  just  then  entering 
its  new  and  beautiful  building.  This  small  but  well-built 
house  could  be  adapted  with  little  cost  to  use  for  lecture- 
rooms  and  library.  He  stated  it  as  his  opinion  that  the 
Seminary  ought  to  abstain  from  spending  money  upon 
buildings  until  it  should  first  liave  secured  an  ample 
endowment  for  support  of  the  instruction.  In  hearty 
approval  of  this  idea,  an  expression  was  thrown  out  by  one 
of  the  speakers,  which  was  repeated  years  afterwards  in 


SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY.      153 

New  York,  and  lias  spread  all  over  the  couiitiy.  Rev. 
Thomas  Curtis,  D.D.,  a  member  of  the  convention,  and  Prin- 
cipal of  the  Limestone  (S.  C.)  Female  Institute,  was  an 
Englishman,  a  man  of  commanding  appearance  and  abil- 
ities. He  said,  with  sonorous  English  tones  and  rolling 
r's,  '^  The  requisites  for  an  institution  of  learning  are 
three  ^'s,  — bricks,  books,  brains.  Our  brethren  usually 
begin  at  the  wrong  end  of  the  three  &'s;  thej'  spend  all 
their  money  for  bricks,  have  nothing  to  buy  books,  and 
must  take  such  brains  as  they  can  j^ick  up.  But  our 
brethren  ought  to  begin  at  the  other  end  of  the  three  b's." 

Seven  years  later,  when  the  question  was  of  undertaking 
to  carry  on  the  Seminary  after  the  war,  with  the  endowment 
lost,  and  in  a  land  swept  as  by  a  cyclone,  it  was  remem- 
bered with  special  gratitude  that  Boyce's  plan  had  been 
adopted  in  regard  to  buildings;  for  even  a  few  thousand 
dollars  of  debt  would  then  hav^e  sunk  the  enterprise 
beyond  redemption. 

Hon.  A.  B.  Woodruff  remembers  that  during  the  dis- 
cussions Boyce  once  spoke,  according  to  his  plans  and 
hopes,  of  ''the  great  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Semi- 
nary." Dr.  Basil  Manly,  Sr.,  who  was  presiding,  checked 
him,  —  ''Don't  say  ffreat  until  you  succeed  in  your  work 
of  endowment.  When  j^ou  have  your  Seminar}^  safely  en- 
dowed, I  don't  care  if  you  write  '  great '  with  a  pencil  as 
long  as  a  streak  of  lightning;  but  don't  say  it  yet." 

Upon  nomination  by  a  committee  of  leading  men,  the 
convention  unanimously  elected  four  2:)rofessors,  — J.  P. 
Boyce,  J.  A.  Broadus,  B.  Manly,  Jr.,  E.  T.  Winkler.  It 
has  been  often  said  that  but  for  the  presence  of  William 
Williams  upon  the  nominating  committee  (he  being  the 
only  delegate  present  from  Georgia),  he  would  have  been 
nominated  and  elected.  However  that  may  be,  Winkler 
would  have  filled  with  great  ability  the  chair  of  Church 
History,  and  of  Church  Government  and  Pastoral  Duties, 
as  Williams  afterwards  did. 


154  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

But  Winkler  promptly  declined  the  election.  Another 
one  of  those  elected  carried  the  matter  home  as  a  great 
burden,  because  Poin dexter  and  others  were  pressing  it 
upon  him,  and,  after  weeks  of  anxious  consideration,  felt 
bound  to  decline  also.  As  only  Boyce  and  Manly  had 
accepted,  it  was  thought  best  to  delay  for  another  year  the 
opening  of  the  Seminary.  The  income  could  thus  be  used 
for  more  extensive  and  efficient  agency  in  collecting  the 
hundred  thousand  dollars  from  other  States.  The  Board 
of  Trustees,  which  the  Convention  had  appointed,  was  to 
hold  its  first  meeting  in  connection  with  the  Southern 
Baptist  Convention  at  Eichmond,  in  May,  1859,  and 
could  then  fill  the  vacant  chairs.  Boyce  had  placed  it 
among  the  fundamental  and  unalterable  regulations  of  the 
Seminary  that  a  professor  should  not  be  elected  except  at 
a  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  Board.  So  it  was  hoped 
that  by  a  year's  delay  the  Seminary  might  open  in  a  satis- 
factory condition.  When  the  Board  met  at  Richmond 
they  re-elected  Broadus  and  Winkler;  as  the  latter  again 
declined,  they  elected  William  Williams.  Few,  if  any, 
theological  seminaries  in  the  United  States  had  at  that 
time  more  than  four  professors.  Boyce  reported  the 
finances  as  in  a  very  hopeful  condition;  and  the  Seminary 
seemed  likely  to  open,  the  following  autumn,  with  good 
prospects. 


THE  SEMINARY'S  PLAN   OF  INSTRUCTION.       155 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   seminary's   PLAN   OF   INSTRUCTION 

WE  have  seen  that  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological 
Seminary  was  organized  with  the  avowed  view  of 
giving  theological  instruction  to  young  ministers  in  every 
grade  of  general  education.  Men  thoroughly  prepared  by 
college  studies  or  their  equivalent  were  to  have  as  extensive 
and  thorough  a  theological  course  as  could  be  found  else- 
where. Men  who  were  entering  the  ministry  with  only  a 
partial  college  training,  or  without  having  attended  col- 
lege at  all,  were  to  have  an  opportunity  of  carefully  study- 
ing the  English  Scriptures,  and  all  the  other  branches  of 
theology  for  which  they  were  prepared.  Men  who  could 
attend  the  Seminary  only  a  single  year  must  be  welcomed 
to  such  theological  studies  as  would  give  them  the  best 
practical  training  for  their  work.  It  was  thought  to  be 
highly  important  that  all  these  grades  of  students  should 
live  together  in  the  same  institution,  and,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, study  together  in  the  same  classes,  seeing  that  this 
would  tend  to  prevent  invidious  distinctions  in  the  min- 
istry, would  promote  mutual  appreciation,  and  prepare  for 
an  intelligent  and  cordial  co-operation.  But  the  question 
was,  how  could  all  this  be  effected?  To  establish  a  cur- 
riculum suited  to  college  graduates,  and  then  to  carry 
along  in  the  same  institution  a  number  of  men  who  knew 
no  Greek  or  Latin,  probably  no  psychology  or  logic,  some 
of  them  having  only  the  plainest  English  education,  would 
obviously  be  a  surpassingly^  difficult  task;  and  the  experi- 
ments which  had  been  tried  in  one  or  two  Baptist  theo- 


156  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  1\  BOYCE. 

logical  schools  were  understood  to  be  hardly  encouraging. 
Thoughtful  men  who  had  read  president  Wayland's  ad- 
dress on  ''The  Apostolic  Ministry,"  and  who  now  found 
Professor  Boyce's  address  on  ''Three  Changes  in  Theolo- 
gical Institutions,"  setting  forth  more  fully  and  forcibly 
the  need  of  some  such  arrangement,  and  earnestly  assert- 
ing that  surely  the  thing  could  somehow  be  managed, 
were  asking  each  other  the  question,  in  correspondence 
and  conversation,  how  can  it  be  done?  How  can  we  pre- 
vent the  less  thoroughly  prepared  students,  and  the  men 
designing  only  a  single  session's  work,  from  feeling  them- 
selves to  be  placed  in  an  inferior  position,  from  being 
discouraged  rather  than  stimulated,  by  their  proximity  to 
the  regular  students  in  the  regular  course?  How  save  the 
men  pursuing  their  curriculum  from  being  hindered  and 
embarrassed  by  the  presence  of  these  others,  especially  if 
reciting  in  the  same  classes  ? 

The  attempt  was  made  to  solve  all  these  real  difficulties 
by  a  thoroughly  elective  sj^stem,  patterned  after  that  which 
had  for  thirty  years  been  in  highl}^  successful  operation  at 
the  University  of  Virginia.  The  term  "elective"  has  of 
late  years  become  common  in  many  universities  and  col- 
leges, and  some  theological  schools,  to  denote  studies,  not 
all  required  as  part  of  the  curriculum,  but  a  certain  num- 
ber of  which  may  be  chosen  by  each  student,  in  addition 
to  those  required,  so  as  to  make  out  his  complete  course. 
But  something  very  different  is  meant  when  we  say  that 
all  the  studies  of  this  Theological  Seminary  were  to  be 
elective.  One  who  really  cares  to  understand  the  plan 
upon  which  this  institution  was  organized,  and  upon 
which  it  has  ever  since  been  consistently  carried  on,  must 
lay  aside  all  other  conceptions  of  elective  studies,  and 
look  a  moment  at  the  elective  method  here  in  question. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  Seminary  should  comprise 
eight  distinct,  and  in  a  sense  independent,  departments 
of  instruction,   or  schools,   namely :  — 


THE   SEMINARY'S  PLAN  OF  INSTRUCTION.        157 

I.  Biblical  Introduction.  In  this  school  would  be  taught  the 
Canon  of  Scripture  and  Inspiration,  with  Biblical  Geography  and 
Antiquities,  etc. 

II.  Interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament.  Here  there  would 
be  two  classes,  —  (1)  The  Interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament 
in  English  ;  (2)  Hebrew  and  Chaldee,  and  Hebrew  Exegesis.  It 
was  added  that  other  Oriental  languages,  as  Arabic,  Syriac,  etc., 
might  also  be  taught. 

III.  Interpretation  of  the  New  Testament.  (1)  Interpreta- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  in  English.  (2)  New  Testament 
Greek,  and  Greek  Exegesis. 

IV.  Systematic  Theology.  (1)  A  general  course,  in  which 
the  instruction  should  not  presuppose  any  acquaintance  with  the 
learned  languages.  (2)  A  special  and  more  erudite  course,  in 
which  there  might  be  read  theological  works  in  the  Latin,  etc. 

V.  Polemic  Theology  and  Apologetics. 

VI.  Homiletics,  or  Preparation  and  Delivery  of  Sermons. 

VII.  Church  History. 

VIII.  Church  Government  and  Pastoral  Duties. 

"  In  each  of  these  schools  a  separate  diploma  shall  be  given  to 
those  students  who  exhibit,  upon  due  examination,  a  satisfactory 
acquaintance  with  the  studies  of  that  school.  In  those  schools 
which  comprise  two  classes,  a  general  and  a  special  course,  the 
diploma  shall  require  a  competent  knowledge  of  both ;  while  to 
those. whose  attainments  extend  only  to  a  general  or  English 
course,  there  shall  be  awarded  a  Certificate  of'Proficiency." 

From  this  it  will  appear  that  the  English  classes,  in  the 
Bible  and  in  Systematic  Theology,  were  not  at  all  designed 
as  a  makeshift  for  persons  who  could  not  pursue  a  more 
thorough  course.  The  diploma  in  any  such  school  must 
cover  both  the  general  and  the  special  course.  The  study 
of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures  would  not  constitute 
the  regular  and  sufficient  course,  for  which  some  study 
of  the  English  Scriptures  might  be  substituted  by  men 
having  no  acquaintance  with  Hebrew  or  Greek;  hut  the 
study  of  the  English  Scriptures  was  recommended  to  all 
students,  and  required  of  those  who  pursued  Hebrew  and 


158  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

Greek  Exegesis  also,  if  they  desired  the  Diploma  in  Old 
Testament  or  in  New  Testament,  or  the  General  Diploma 
of  the  Seminary,  which  was  to  be  given  to  those  who  had 
obtained  diplomas  in  all  the  separate  schools. 

It  was  left  entirely  free  for  any  student,  if  he  chose,  to 
study  in  only  the  Hebrew  or  the  Greek  class,  omitting  the 
English;  though  in  that  case  no  di23loma  would  be  given. 
In  point  of  fact,  not  one  student  in  a  hundred  of  those 
entering  the  Seminary  through  its  whole  history  has  failed 
to  enter  the  classes  for  study  of  the  English  Bible;  and 
no  one  has  ever  thought  of  studying  the  more  erudite 
course  in  S3'stematic  Theology,  without  also  taking  the 
general  or  English  course.  The  Seminary's  classes  in  the 
English  Bible  have  proved  to  be  one  of  its  most  marked 
features.  The  course  runs  over  the  entire  Old  Testament 
or  New  Testament  history,  locating  the  Prophets,  etc.,  and 
the  Epistles,  where  they  most  probablj^  belong  in  chrono- 
logical relation  to  the  historj^,  dividing  the  history  into 
periods,  analyzing  each  book  into  its  natural  divisions, 
studying  a  book  as  a  whole,  and  a  group  of  books  in  their 
relation  to  each  other,  and  taking  in  general  such  broad 
views  of  Scripture  as  are  not  possible  for  those  wdio  have 
in  hand  only  the  partially  known  Hebrew  or  Greek.  At 
the  same  time  as  much  exercise  as  possible  is  given  in 
the  careful  exegesis  of  particular  passages  and  of  entire 
books.  As  the  students  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  classes 
in  this  way  have  gained,  or  are  at  the  same  time  gaining, 
so  much  general  knowledge  of  the  Bible  in  English,  they 
can  afford  to  bestow  more  attention  upon  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  languages  themselves,  than  if  they  must  hurry  on  to 
exegesis.  While  having  abundant  specimens  of  exegetical 
study  of  the  originals,  they  can  be  especially  trained  to 
make  exegesis  for  themselves,  by  thorough  and  prolonged 
study  of  the  language  in  hand.  It  was  soon  found  that  a 
good  many  college  graduates,  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
possessed  a  quite  inadequate  acquaintance  with  Greek.    So, 


THE   SEMINARY'S  PLAN  OF  INSTRUCTION.       159 

after  a  few  years  the  original  plan  of  having  the  course 
in  every  school  completed  in  one  session  was  abandoned 
so  far  as  concerned  Greek  and  Hebrew,  each  of  these  being 
divided  into  a  Junior  and  a  Senior  class.  Yet  one  who 
brings  a  really  good  knowledge  of  Greek  can  of  course 
enter  the  Senior  class  at  once ;  and  in  a  few  rare  cases  this 
has  been  done  by  students  of  Hebrevv\ 

It  was  confidently  hoped  at  the  outset  that  by  this 
completel}'-  elective  plan  the  thorouglily  prepared  students 
would  be  able  to  pursue  their  separate  special  studies  in 
the  Bible  and  Systematic  Theology,  without  being  at  all 
hindered  by  the  presence  of  so  many  other  students  in 
other  classes.  Indeed,  the  plan  seems  at  once  to  insure 
such  a  result.  But  it  was  soon  found,  as  the  years  went  on, 
that  more  than  this  was  gained  by  the  arrangement.  As  the 
whole  course  could  be  studied,  except  the  special  classes 
in  Hebrew  and  Greek  and  in  ^' Latin  Theology,''  by  in- 
telligent men  having  only  an  ''English  education,"  men 
were  not  pressed  into  studying  the  original  languages 
without  some  real  talent  for  acquiring  a  knowledge  of 
language,  and  some  strong  personal  desire  to  know  Hebrew 
and  Greek.  Even  the  Junior  classes  in  those  languages 
thus  included  only  persons  impelled  to  enter  them  by 
personal  aspiration.  Added  to  this  natural  selection 
was  the  further  selection  of  those  who  advanced  from 
the  Junior  to  the  Senior  classes  in  Greek  and  Hebrew. 
Consequently,  these  Senior  classes  can  be  carried  over  a 
much  wider  and  more  thorough  range  of  learned  study  than 
would  be  possible  if  the  class  comprised  also  a  number  of 
men  who  were  members  of  it  only  as  a  thing  necessary  to 
obtaining  a  diploma,  or  to  taking  a  respectable  position 
before  their  fellow-students  and  the  country.  It  has  thus 
been  found  that  the  system  of  free  choice  has  greatly 
promoted  true  scholarship,  while  lessening  the  number  of 
nominal  scholars.  Persons  who  give  a  moment's  careless 
observation  or  reflection  to  this  Seminary,  which  admits  so 


160  MEMOIR   OF  JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

large  a  number  of  mere  English  scholars,  have  often  taken  it 
for  granted  that  the  whole  thing  must  be  of  comparatively 
low  grade.  The  reason  is  that  the  idea  of  a  curriculum 
underlies  all  their  thinking  on  the  subject;  and  so  they 
take  for  granted  that  a  course  which  begins  so  low  will  of 
necessity  be  prevented  from  reaching  very  high.  Yet  the 
completely  and  consistently  elective  system  is  found  to 
work  exactly  otherwise;  and  those  who  are  willing  to  give 
the  matter  some  attention  must  sooner  or  later  find  that 
such  is  the  case. 

In  all  the  other  schools  of  this  Seminary  —  i.  e.,  except 
Old  Testament,  New  Testament,  and  Systematic  Theology 
—  it  was  arranged  that  there  should  be  only  one  class  for 
all  grades  of  students,  as  indeed  all  study  together  also  in 
the  general  or  English  classes  of  the  three  schools  just 
excepted.  Critics  having  little  or  no  experience  in  the 
matter  often  take  for  granted  that  men  of  such  various 
qualifications  cannot  without  great  difficulty  hear  the  same 
lectures  and  take  part  in  the  same  recitations  and  exami- 
nations. The  real  difficulties  are  found  to  be  very  slight, 
compared  with  the  great  advantages  of  throwing  all  the 
students  together  in  these  various  departments.  The  less 
erudite  men  soon  find  that  work  will  tell,  and  that  they 
can  often  share  very  comfortably  in  a  recitation  with  some 
college  graduate.  At  the  same  time,  they  have  occasion 
to  observe  the  advantage  possessed  by  fellow-students,  or 
the  professor,  from  an  acquaintance  with  the  learned  lan- 
guages ;  and  every  year  there  are  some  men,  endowed  with 
a  natural  talent  for  language,  who  quit  after  one  session, 
and  go  off  to  college  for  a  thorough  course,  or  who  go 
to  work,  by  private  instruction  or  resolute  unaided  study, 
to  master  Greek,  some  of  them  w^ith  real  success.  Others 
who  come  as  college  graduates,  soon  find,  and  show,  that 
they  have  really  little  talent  for  language,  and  when  dis- 
posed to  leave  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  confine  them- 
selves to  the  English  course,  they  are  not  dissuaded.    Thus 


THE   SEMINARY'S   PLAN   OF  INSTRUCTION.        161 

the  elements  move  freely  up  and  down.  Men  do  that  for 
which  they  have  ^preparation,  turn  of  mind,  and  time  or 
patience;  and  get  credit  for  exactly  what  they  do.  Every 
year  some  men  come  for  a  single  session,  and  are  led  to 
complete  an  English  or  a  full  course.  Every  year  some 
enter  for  a  full  course,  and  leave  at  the  end,  or  before  the 
end,  of  the  first  session.  Here,  as  in  the  New  Testament 
form  of  Church  Government,  the  benefits  of  freedom  far 
outweigh  its  inconveniencies.  The  free  choice  of  studies, 
provided  for  by  James  P.  Boyce  and  his  associates,  has 
shown  itself  thoroughly  adequate  to  furnish  theological 
education  for  students  of  very  diverse  grades  as  to  prepa- 
ration, all  in  the  same  institution  and  for  the  most  part 
in  the  same  classes. 

But  thoroughly  elective  education  necessarily  requires 
that  the  graduation  be  made  difficult.  Without  this,  the 
more  aspiring  men  will  be  tempted  to  undertake  too 
much,  —  which  is  one  of  the  chief  snares  of  an  elective 
system.  As  to  the  bulk  of  students,  they  will  lack  the 
impulse  given  by  a  curriculum  which  bears  the  whole 
mass  along  together,  and  so  they  must  have  a  more  power- 
ful individual  stimulus  in  the  difficulty  of  graduation. 
Such  has  always  been  the  experience  of  the  University  of 
Virginia,  and  so  likewise  in  this  Seminary.  A  man  must 
pass  independently  in  each  of  the  schools  before  he  can 
receive  a  general  diploma.  No  allowance  can  be  made  in 
one  subject  for  his  having  done  well  in  others.  Accord- 
ingly, in  the  Seminary  as  in  the  University,  it  is  the  rule 
to  have  in  every  school,  or  class  of  a  school,  an  intermediate 
and  a  final  written  examination,  lasting  nine  or  ten  hours, 
with  a  brief  oral  examination  in  addition  upon  certain 
subjects.  These  written  examinations  are  a  severe  test 
of  a  man's  acquaintance  with  the  whole  course  of  study  in 
that  school  or  class,  and  his  pov/er  of  satisfactorily  stating 
what  he  knows.  A  man  who  has  in  the  course  of  three  or 
four  years  reached  the  degree  of  Full  Graduate  in  the  Semi- 

11 


162  MEMOIR  OF   JAMES  P.   BOYCE. 

nar}"  has  passed  more  than  twenty  of  these  all-daj^  written 
examinations.  Every  question  is  separately  valued,  on 
a  scale  of  one  hundred  for  the  whole;  and  his  paper  must 
be  worth  at  least  seventh-five  per  cent  on  the  whole  in 
order  to  pass.  Many  fail  to  pass  who  have  yet  studied 
with  great  profit.  The  result  of  all  this  is  that  the  num- 
ber of  general  graduates  will  seem  small  in  proportion  to 
the  whole  number  of  students,  when  looked  at  b}^  persons 
familiar  only  with  a  curriculum.  Some  students  remain 
only  one  or  two  sessions;  some  pass  in  various  subjects, 
but  fail  in  others.  As  a  whole,  the  students  are  power- 
fully stimulated  by  the  high  standard  of  graduation. 
Those  who  obtain  a  diploma  know  that  it  means  some- 
thing. Those  who  fail  to  obtain  it  often  feel,  and  some- 
times voluntarily  say,  that  they  would  rather  fail  with  a 
high  standard  than  succeed  with  a  low  one. 

At  first  it  was  arranged  to  have  only  one  general  di- 
ploma, with  the  title  of  Full  Graduate,  to  be  given  to  those 
who  had  obtained  separate  diplomas  in  all  the  separate 
schools.  In  the  year  1876  it  was  provided  that  the  degree 
of  English  Graduate  should  be  given  to  students  who  have 
been  graduated  in  all  the  schools  except  the  classes  of 
Hebrew  and  Greek  and  the  class  called  '^  Latin  The- 
ology." This  has  perhaps  prevented  a  few  students  from 
studying  the  original  languages,  since  they  could  obtain  a 
general  degree  without  it;  but  it  has  certainlj^  led  a  good 
many  to  remain  two  or  three  years,  and  complete  all  the 
schools  required  for  ^'English  Graduate,"  who  would 
otherwise  have  left  sooner  or  omitted  some  subjects.  In 
the  year  1890  a  further  provision  was  made  for  the  degree 
of  Eclectic  Graduate.  This  is  given  to  those  who  have 
been  separately  graduated  in  the  Junior  classes  of  Hebrew 
and  Greek,  in  Systematic  Theology  (the  general  or  Eng- 
lish class).  Church  History,  and  Homiletics,  and  in  any 
four  of  the  remaining  nine  schools  or  classes.  The  degree 
can  be  taken   in  two  years  by  a  well-prepared  student, 


THE   SEMINARY'S  PLAN  OF  INSTRUCTION.       163 

otherwise  in  three  years.  Tt  gives  as  much  knowledge  of 
Hebrew  and  New  Testament  Greek  as  is  gained  in  the 
majority  of  theological  institutions,  and  prepares  the  stu- 
dent to  use  the  elaborate  learned  commentaries,  and, 
if  he  will  keep  up  these  studies,  to  use  the  original  in 
examining  his  texts;  while  yet  he  is  not  required  to  work 
through  the  extensive  and  difficult  course  of  the  Senior 
classes  in  Hebrew  and  Greek.  Some  excellent  students, 
who  are  pressed  by  lack  of  time  or  means,  can  thus  in  two 
years  obtain  a  highly  valuable  degree.  Some  content 
themselves  with  this  who  might  perhaps  otherwise  have 
remained  and  toiled  through  the  entire  eight  schools 
(thirteen  classes);  but  others  are  encouraged,  by  finding 
that  they  can  take  this  degree,  to  remain  and  com- 
plete the  whole  range  of  study  for  the  degree  of  Full 
Graduate.  All  works  freely,  with  the  occasional  dis- 
advantages of  freedom,  but  with  its  constant  and  high 
advantages. 

Besides  these  eight  schools  (thirteen  classes),  which 
constitute  the  rauge  of  study  required  for  the  degree  of 
Eull  Graduate,  there  have  been  established  numerous 
special  departments,  such  as  of  late  years  have  been  intro- 
duced in  various  other  theological  seminaries.  In  this 
Seminary  there  are  now  thirteen  of  these  special  studies, 
including  the  Arabic,  Aramaic,  Assyrian,  Coptic,  and 
Modern  Greek  languages.  Patristic  Greek  and  Patristic 
Latin,  Old  Testament  Prophecy,  Textual  Criticism  of  the 
New  Testament,  Foreign  Hymnology  (Latin  and  Greek 
Hymns,  German  and  French  Hymns),  History  of  Doc- 
trines, Historical  Seminary  (original  researches  and  essays 
in  Church  History),  and  Theological  German  (two  classes 
for  reading  German  works  in  Exegesis,  Systematic  or 
Practical  Theology,  Church  History,  etc.).  In  each  of 
these  special  departments  the  Faculty  has  authority  to 
give  a  separate  diploma;  and  so  in  other  departments, 
which  may  be  organized  as  needed.     But  these  special 


164  MEMOIR  OF  JAMES  P.  BOYCE. 

diplomas  cannot  be  substituted  for  any  part  of  the 
range  of  study  required  in  order  to  the  degree  of  Full 
Graduate. 

In  May,  1892,  the  Board  of  Trustees  established  a  new 
system  of  titles.  The  degree  of  English  Graduate  is  to 
carry  the  title  of  Th.  G.,  or  Graduate  in  Theolog^^;  the 
degree  of  Eclectic  Graduate,  that  of  Th.  B.,  or  Bachelor 
in  Theology;  the  degree  of  Full  Graduate,  that  of  Th.  M., 
or  Master  in  Theology, —  corresponding  very  much  to  the 
famous  old  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  in  the  University  of 
Virginia,  and  to  the  similar  M.  A.  in  several  Southern 
colleges.  And  any  one  who,  after  taking  the  Master's 
degree,  remains  as  a  close  student  in  the  Seminary  for  at 
least  one  whole  session  of  eight  months,  and  has  been 
graduated  in  at  least  five  of  the  special  departments  above 
mentioned  (the  choice  to  be  approved  by  the  Faculty), 
and  who,  furthermore  and  especially,  has  prepared  a  satis- 
factory thesis,  presenting  the  results  of  original  research 
or  original  thought  in  some  subject  connected  with  theo- 
logical studies,  shall  receive  the  degree  of  Th.  D.,  or 
Doctor  in  Theology. 

As  originally  organized,  the  Seminary  had  no  president, 
but  Professor  Boyce  was  made  Chairman  of  the  Faculty. 
In  May,  1888,  the  title  was  changed  to  that  of  President, 
but  with  the  express  provision  that  the  government  should 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Faculty.  Several  colleges 
have  in  like  manner  imitated  the  University  of  Virginia 
by  having  only  a  Chairman  of  the  Faculty.  This  was 
Mr.  Jefferson's  democratic  reaction  against  the  autocratic 
power  exercised  by  some  presidents  of  universities  or 
colleges,  not  only  as  to  discipline,  but  as  to  the  appoint- 
ment and  removal  of  professors.  In  theological  schools, 
where  there  are  usually  but  few  professors,  and  very  little 
has  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  discipline,  it  is  best  that  the 
faculty  should  govern  the  institution,  whatever  title  may 
be  given  to  the  presiding  officer.     But  in  a  university  or 


THE   SEMINARY'S   PLAN   OF  INSTRUCTION.       165 

college  there  is  much  reason  for  thinking  it  desirable  to 
have  a  real  president,  who  shall  give  unity  to  the  general 
work,  and  shall  be  the  recognized  representative  of  the 
institution,  busily  canvassing  for  students,  and  striving, 
through  personal  acquaintance  and  influence,  to  obtain 
additional  gifts  for  endowment  and  support. 


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